Action Geometry Consistency

[Bill Ballard]

At 7:54 AM -0400 5/14/03, Farrell wrote:
>Well I don't know that amplified is the best term - an error 
>accomodated by blow will always be about 5.5 times the size as that 
>same error put into dip - but it is also likely to be noticed more 
>in the dip. If not blow, where would you put the error? (Assuming of 
>course we are not fixing the action.)

I don't know what I'd do without you, Terry. <g> Probably hire on as 
the village idiot.

>I would tend to either put it all into the blow, or like Ed Foote 
>said, split it between blow and dip (keeping in mind that an even 
>split here means the the amount of compensation in the dip will be 
>5.5 times less than that in the blow - or there abouts). I always 
>try my best to have aftertouch and let-off as even as possible.


That's why I believe it belongs at the key, and more specifically, 
the dip. Say you're holding LO and blow steady and there's a 15 mil 
disagreement between the dip and aftertouch. That is, with the dip 
held constant along with LO and blow, the aftertouch on that one note 
is 15 mils from where it wants to be. If you put that error in the 
aftertouch or in the dip. If in the aftertouch, the 15 mils will be 
being compared to the conventional 50 mils of aftertouch. If in the 
dip, the 15 mils will be compared to the the ~.390" dip.

I'd bet that 15/50 (30%) would be far more noticeable to a pianist 
than 15/390 (3.8%). Certainly, somebody regulation drop and 
repetition would notice the difference.

So I'm all in favor of straight lines in action regulation. Which is 
why I'm happy, holding LO, blow and aftertouch steady, and stowing 
the error where the pianist isn't going to notice it.

At 10:24 AM -0500 5/14/03, Bradley M. Snook wrote:
>Aftertouch
>I set aftertouch using punchings and a key weight; my goal is to get the
>aftertouch even at +/- .002".

I'm happier using finger pressure instead of deadweights. It allows 
me to feel the escapement and the compression of front rail felts.

Bill Ballard RPT
NH Chapter, P.T.G.

"Listen, I've got one job on this ship. It's a STUPID job. But I'm 
going to do it. ALL RIGHT?"
     ...........Sigourney Weaver in "Galaxy Quest"
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