Add to the mix an inconsistent knuckle line, an inconsistent capstan line and/or the sharp-natural key leverage difference and pretty soon you have some real discrepancies to scatter. No budget for parts, and you just hope your magic wand works. Alan -- Alan McCoy, RPT Eastern Washington University amccoy at ewu.edu ________________________________ From: Fred Sturm <fssturm at unm.edu> Reply-To: CAUTlist <caut at ptg.org> Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2010 07:16:52 -0800 To: CAUTlist <caut at ptg.org> Subject: Re: [CAUT] aftertouch (was Re: F..riction) On Dec 13, 2010, at 5:02 PM, Jon Page wrote: Final check is to take each key through escapement (slowly and controlled) and then press to the bottom and compress the front punching a bit. The hammers should each rise from drop the same amount, not much but definitely some (1 mm?). That's a lot of lost territory. Well, I'm not so sure. It is possible that a regulation with absolute minimum aftertouch is more "efficient" and fast. There is a school of thought that aims to go further and make escapement have a minimum feel to it. Jack is positioned so its edge is closer to the middle of the knuckle rather than lining up to the molding, as far as possible without cheating on a hard blow. Drop is as close as possible to let off, say 1 mm let off, 2 mm drop (measured from the string). Aftertouch is about .030" or even a wee bit less. I prefer to back off from there: jack lined up to molding, drop at 3 mm, aftertouch at .040 - .050". It gives a more definite feel to the escapement, still with a lot of speed and efficiency - I think enough for about anyone. This is partly from personal taste developed over time (experimenting and finally deciding provisionally what I really like myself), but also from feedback. For instance, when I had pushed toward what I described as making escapement have a minimal feel, a piano prof commented to me that she was trying to teach her students the feel of aftertouch, and her piano didn't feel right (her studio piano I had just fine-regulated). So I have come to the conclusion that manufacturer's specs and what their technical reps say might actually be a good thing to follow <G>. That is, I have a definite preference for 1 - 1.5 mm let off (- 2 mm low bass), and that is tighter than some specs suggest. And I put dip wherever aftertouch wants it to be, not worrying so much about hitting the recommendation. I think you should also keep an open mind to the possibility of a "coarser" regulation for some people, with "heavy fingers," who request a keyboard they can "get their fingers into" or something descriptive along those lines: jack a little the other side of the molding (0.5 to 1 mm), drop at 4 mm, aftertouch at .050 - .060. That works, too, but I wouldn't do it unless someone was asking for it, not liking what I usually do. Also, of course, a very good case can be made for more aftertouch with new parts, allowing for compression. But there, I regulate as described, then raise the hammer line 1 - 2 mm. Bottom line, though, is that the most important thing is consistency and predictability. Regards, Fred Sturm fssturm at unm.edu "I am only interested in music that is better than it can be played." Schnabel -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20101214/61c41868/attachment.htm>
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