[CAUT] lighter touchweight

[Fred Sturm]

    I, too, will echo Don's comments, and add aftertouch to the list. Either
too much or too little can cause a perception of "heavy." Too little, you're
getting through the action cycle and slamming into the felt. Too much,
you're wasting effort moving past the part of the keystroke that matters. It
can be a very personal thing exactly how much aftertouch someone wants. And
a definite amen to too much drop. This has the additional affect of creating
more spring resistance back pressure at the bottom of the keystroke, along
with the extra friction of jack against knuckle, and the "thunk" feel of
letoff. That together with heavy rep spring strength can really affect the
feel.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico


On 10/17/07 2:59 PM, "Don Mannino" <DMannino at kawaius.com> wrote:

> Jeff,
> 
> "Heavy touch" is really to vague.  Under what conditions; i.e., heavy
> during soft play" During loud chords? during rapid passages?  Or all of
> the above?
> 
> A few items to consider:
> 
> - As was mentioned, damper lift could be too early.
> - Black keys could be set too high - lower them to 12mm
> - Front key pins could have high friction.  Polish the pins and apply
> Teflon, and make sure the bushings are flat (not worn curved) and well
> fitted.
> - Jacks are too far under the knuckles
> - Knuckles are flat or have loose skin
> - Repetition springs are strong and / or drop screws are low
> - Hammers are too mellow.
> - Hammer center bushings are spongy, causing poor efficiency in hard
> playing. 
> 
> None of the above will show up in a simple down-up weight measurement.
> 
> I know this sounds whacky, but lift the lid and ask for the pianist's
> comments.  I'm not sure how you should phrase it, but let them know that
> there is a close interplay between tone and touch.  Tell him you suspect
> that they may not be getting enough tone for his touch input.
> 
> I would hesitate to jump into shimming moving the rail - if the down and
> up weight are this nice, you will just begin to move away from the nice
> balance the action currently has.
> 
> Don Mannino
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of
> Jeff Farris
> Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 1:40 PM
> To: College and University Technicians
> Subject: Re: [CAUT] lighter touchweight
> 
> Alan,
> 
> Exactly! I feel the same way, thank you. This piano feels good to me.
> He knows it is in range for most people. He plays a LOT, and is perhaps
> having some arthritis type symptoms. He just wants to know if it can be
> a little better. I thought trying to remove just a hair off the hammer
> tails might do it, but didn't want to go through the trouble and expense
> for him if it still wouldn't be better enough. I don't see how it
> couldn't improve a little. I might experiment with that and the shimming
> the back side of the balance rail. I'll be sure to re-check damper lift
> also.
> 
> Jeff
> 
> 
>> Jeff,
>> 
>> Part of the reason for my last post is that there are many pianists
>> who'd kill for a piano with low 50s and high 20s. I'd be willing to bet
> 
>> that the problem lies elsewhere. Too-early damper timing is often the
> culprit.
>> 
>> Alan
>> 
>> 
>> -- Alan McCoy, RPT
>> Eastern Washington University
>> amccoy at mail.ewu.edu
>> 509-359-4627
>> 
>> 
>>>  From: Jeff Farris <Jfarris at mail.utexas.edu>
>>>  Reply-To: "College and University Technicians <caut at ptg.org>"
>>> <caut at ptg.org>
>>>  Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 10:33:53 -0500
>>>  To: <CAUT at ptg.org>
>>>  Subject: [CAUT] lighter touchweight
>>> 
>>>  Hi List,
>>> 
>>>  I have a customer who wants his 1975 Baldwin 6'8" grand to feel
>>> lighter. It was virtually unused for many years and recently had an
>>> action reconditioning and regulation. It weighed off pretty
>>> reasonable. Downweight averaged low 50's to 50 and upweight averaged
> 
>>> upper 20's to 30. Friction seemed low if anything. There isn't a lot
> 
>>> of lead in the keys, as much as four weights in some of the lower
>>> bass. The hammers have enough "extra" material in the cove to remove
> 
>>> some in an arc shape.  I'm wondering if doing only that would result
> 
>>> in enough weight loss to make much difference. Has anyone done this
>>> procedure not in conjunction with leading, etc. and received good
>>> results?
>>> 
>>>  Sorry if you already received this. I tried to send this message
>>> yesterday from a different source computer and don't know if it went
> 
>>> out. :)
>>> 
>>>  Thanks,
>>>  --
>>>  Jeff Farris
>>>  Piano Technician
>>>  School of Music
>>>  UT Austin
>>>  mailto; jfarris at mail.utexas.edu
>>>  512-471-0158
> 
>