Backchecking Height and an incredible help

[David Andersen]

on 5/30/03 3:28 PM, antares@euronet.nl at antares@euronet.nl wrote:

> On vrijdag, mei 30, 2003, at 16:24 Europe/Amsterdam, Keith Roberts wrote:
> 
> I think this is right. From the recent discussion on how much the action parts
> flex, especially on a concert grand because of the heavier hammers, the
> backcheck could brush the hammer tail on a FFF blow but not be detected by
> using your hand to pressure the hammer and won't happen unless you try to hit
> a very hard blow. That would decrease the volume only on the hardest blows but
> not have an effect on soft or medium blows. Lowering the backcheck (we are not
> talking about checking height here we are talking about the height of the
> backcheck) would give the hammer a fraction of a second longer to get out of
> the way. 
> Keith Roberts 
> 
> And yet, even if you don't bang on a piano, you will notice a tonal
> improvement when you adjust the back check height with the 2mm result.
> Try it out and tell me what you think?
> 
> Antares, 
> The Netherlands 

This is a truly fascinating phenomenon and thread.  It's so hard for the
logical mind to surrender to the fact that there are things about a piano,
and working on a piano, that seem to be beyond logic or figuring out.
I guess that's what "craft" is about: the ability to produce or catalyze
that extra added magic or mystery that makes the product or result of the
craft more attractive than the next guy's efforts. This, IMO, is a result of
1) doing something thousands of times with attention, focus, and a student's
   mind.
2) Trusting, and I mean really trusting, your body as a feedback loop,
rather than your thoughts. The ear, and the heart, ARE the final arbiters.

I am extremely spatially and mechanically challenged.  I am in awe of many
of y'all's understanding of how a piano works in a linear way.  And yet:
people pay me top dollar in an extremely competitive market in one of the
world's biggest cities because I can make a big, big difference in how their
pianos sound and feel by making subtle, incredibly precise changes in
tuning, voicing, and regulation that seem to work synergistically in a way
that other technicians' efforts do not. And my gradual acquisition of these
skills came not through my ability to understand and envision how a piano
works, but to FEEL and HEAR what artists and serious players prefer.

One thing I can tell the people on this list with a decade or less in the
craft:  trust yourself; don't place too much stock in what somebody else
says until you try it and FEEL and HEAR that it's good.  I know I've learned
a tremendous amount of extremely precious info and insight from certain
people, and I'll always be grateful to them---Jack Cofer, Kenyon Brown, Bill
Garlick, Virgil Smith, Bob Davis & Dale Erwin, Richard Davenport, and Tom
Servinsky, and  to name just a few----but I've also bound myself, sent
myself down dead-end roads for years, by buying somebody's advice or
world-view about something to do with pianos that turned out to be not true
for ME, or not the best way to do something for ME.

Trust yourself.  If you can't trust your ears, and your sensibilities, you
should look for another way to make money.

End of rant.  Down off the soapbox.  My best to all.  Coming back to the
List a little at a time after a nasty, shocking, and disappointing private
exchange with another List member, then an especially vicious flare-up, the
worst ever, of rheumatoid arthritis....I've let go of the first, and am
getting healthier by the day. It's a frightening illness; send  me some good
energy if you are so inclined.

with warm and respectful regards......

David Andersen
Malibu, CA