Hi, > > These instruments should Never be used by students. > these old squares have action pieces that will easily break in > comparison They're very old but they have fewer parts to fix. Keys usually are squashed by enthusiastic tightening of rocker screws. Accustomation to their extreme differences in key length has no advantage for playing modern acoustic or electronic keyboard instruments. The mechanical defects to the long treble keys weren't unknown to makers, some installing longer buttons and shoes to compensate a little for effects to stiffness. Inertial differences can't be ignored, though. > the scale balance is totally out of whack I'm not sure it's appropriate to compare them with modern scales. At least by now, it is the tension of the strings that imparts any stiffness to the system, rather than any compression they might have put to the thin, barely supported boards. Especially closer to the gap for the hammers, usually only with a short stretcher or two and a single iron spacer. Moderate finger pressure on a non strung board seems to show this. A nice piece on more forensic scale research, <http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/PaulPoletti/Scale.pdf> > Cheek Lift This is easily seen in photos of old wooden framed grands where the treble cheek isn't parallel to the spine. Also can be found by pushing down the corners of squares. This tends to distort keybeds, and spine deformation can mess with strike points. One reason for fun stuff like down striking pianos. Clark
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC