inertia scale

[RobertD429@aol.com]

One more thing about inertia - no matter how carefully we work, it's
naturally graduated from bass to treble in all pianos. This means that one
area is likely to be more of a problem than others. My experience has been
that the high bass - low tenor gets complaints first. Not only does the
bottom of the piano gets less rapid passagework, the pianist usually wants as
big a sound as possible in the very bottom. In the higher treble, the inertia
drops off naturally.

I have been known to take more weight off a set of hammers in this area so
that the taper is not linear. In big pianos, the voicing can make up for this
a little easier in the aforementioned area than in the treble. This also
happens naturally to some degree with wear - the most filing is done in the
areas that play the most notes. Of course, this means that octaves five and
six get a little too much filing for the rest of the scale, but at least the
left hand gets a little extra, and the top and bottom get more left alone.

I'm not sure anyone has mentioned voicing this round. You wouldn't expect me
to let that go, would you? Here is something that can REALLY affect the
PERCEPTION of inertia. A hammer which is inefficient or too absorptive on the
top can make a piano feel both like it has too much weight and too much
inertia. The sound won't open up, and working harder doesn't get the pianist
more sound. I call this "tonal resistance" (patent not pending).

Sigh, more of this "judgment" thing.

Bob Davis