Feeling the Hammers when playing!!!!!

[Joseph Garrett]

I'd like to play devil's advocate for a moment: Come on! Hasn't anyone heard
of "let-off"? There is no physical way that the player can "feel" the hammer
as it hits the string! But then, there is the coupling of the hammer to
shank to rail to action brackets to key bed to key pin and then to the key.
Hmm? Do high end pianists have the capability to feeling all the way through
the aforementioned "coupling". Sounds more like the usual "Performer BS" to
me.
On the other hand! We all know of how Horowitz could make a crappy piano
sound good. Prime example was HIS S & S. That piano, when played by others,
was really nasty, IMHO. So, How did he do it? The only way I can figure, is,
if he had a feel for what the hammer was/wasn't doing, then he could modify
his approach to each note. THIS, I think he did! MHO, is that that is what
set him apart from all others.
Just my take on the feeling of hammers.
Regards,
Joe Garrett, RPT, (Oregon)