Weighty Problem

[Avery Todd]

Cliff,

   Besides the other answers I've seen, here's something else you might
want to consider. Was the grand used perhaps too heavy itself? Either from
friction, weighting or geometry problems. Was the regulation good? Was
there excess friction in the action or damper assembly? Perhaps the hammers
were
too soft (fairly typical) and maybe in combination with any or all of the
other things, this gave the impression to a young student (adult too, for
that matter) that the piano was heavy to play.
   If all the above is correct, I don't believe that a good student that
age would find a grand *that* hard to play on.  We have student groups that
use our facilities quite frequently and I've never had any complaint about
any of our concert grands being too heavy.
   Yamaha is not known (in my experience) as being a real light action. They
are usually pretty good as far as the downweight is concerned. Sure, the
repetition will be better on a grand but I wouldn't think there would be
*that* much difference in the actual pressure needed to depress the keys.
   Compare the two if you can. See how the grand is. Maybe that's the one
which needs the work and not the Yamaha. If you do decide to work some
with the Yamaha, check the damper lift with the keys. A quick way to
increase the feeling of weight is to regulate the damper spoons so the
dampers will lift a little sooner. Assuming there is enough play to do
this without causing damper ringing problems.
   Just a few thoughts from past experience.

Avery

>         My client has a Yamaha U1 (upright) that I service regularly.
>This piano has been very consistant and my client has been very happy
>with it. On my last service on this piano though, the lady asked me a
>question that I usually don't hear very often. She asked if I could make
>the action heavier. It seems that her son, who is the pianist at the age
>of 12, has become quite good . He entered his first piano competition
>and had great difficulty playing on the competition piano. It was a
>grand that was at a local piano dealer's recital hall. I assume that it
>was a Steinway because he is a Steinway dealer.
> Anyway , the boy complained that the piano played exceedingly heavy and
>that he couldn't play his chosen piece properly. Apparently none of the
>participants could rehearse on this piano , so they had to play cold
>turkey.
>        I explained the major differences between her U1 and a full
>sized grand and that if her son continued to become more accomplished
>on the piano that she really should consider upgrading. Her response was
>that they didn't have enough room for a grand , much as thay would like
>to have one. Then she reitorated her question.
>        My experience with action improvement has always been with
>trying to make actions play easier ,or should I say with as little
>frictional resistance as possible. How can I solve this customers
>problem without radically changing what I find is a fine working action?
>
>                            Tunefully,
>                                    Cliff Maurer (Lunytuner)


___________________________
Avery Todd, RPT
Moores School of Music
University of Houston
Houston, TX 77204-4893
713-743-3226
atodd@uh.edu
http://www.uh.edu/music/