Let-off in piano

[David Andersen]

Ahhh...the voice of literate wisdom rises once again from the Rome of the
South...welcome back, Ed Foote....great post.

I use a similar method of aural setting of letoff, using the below-mentioned
precision of touch to "push" each key through letoff and aftertouch to
produce a consistent soft blow; I set the closeness of letoff according to
how strong the note sounds; I can do a very precise letoff at either "close"
or "safe" tolerance in every section of the piano, very consistently,
without distorting or contorting my body. Find a way to make it fun AND
precise. Except I have not yet found a way to make lifting and seating
strings fun; it's nothing but laying bricks in the hot sun....and crucial to
a well-prepared piano, and you MUST do it, so there ya go.

You who are coming to the PTG show in Suckramento (as we Laker fans say; all
in fun; no disrespect intended; flame suit on) please come by the conjoined
booths of Dale Erwin's Piano Restoration & David Andersen Pianos and I'lll
show you the pprotocol in 2 minutes. As with most "moves" in piano work,
it's a hundred times easier to see than describe.

My best......David A.

> << Does Bill Spurlock's description sound like what any of you do? "hunching
> 
> over the stretcher, peering past the dampers and through the strings to
> 
> judge let-off distance, then looking under the pinblock to place the tool on
> 
> the adjusting screw, then leaning forward again to watch as you make the
> 
> adjustment. All the while you must "squeeze" the key gradually to slow
> 
> hammer movement enough that you can accurately see the let-off point." >>

My God, that sounds like torture. How grim a picture. My achin' dogs and
back....oy vay. Bill Spurlock, alias Torquemada Kevorkian....<g> <g>
 
> No,  I set let-off in the piano by holding the damper up with the sostenuto,
> striking the note strongly staccato, and immediately bringing the hammer back
> up and through escapement.  Using a Mason and Hamlin screw stringer tool, I
> turn the let-off button down until the hammer will not reach the vibrating
> string, no matter how I carefully I move it through let-off.  If the piano is
> iffy, 
> slightly lower.  
>    In the upper sections, I do it by feel.  There is a moment right before
> it begins to block that you can feel the hammer touch the string as the jack
> escapes.  Slightly increasing the let-off distance from here will create a
> sudden "transparent" feeling.  The jack is escaping before the hammer touches
> anything.  This is usually too close for maximum dependability, and an
> additional 
> fraction of a mm isn't going to significantly change the pianists ability to
> control the note.  If the let-off pads are unevenly worn, or crooked, this may
> be too fine an adjustment to trust.
>    Our sense of touch is capable of a lot.  You can train your playing hand
> to judge the let-off on each key quite accurately when you are changing the
> let-off from just slightly too high to just right.  In fact, our hands are
> usually quite a bit more sensitive than the pianists. It is possible to set
> aftertouch extremely close by how it feels, (though I set mine by watching
> let-off 
> with around a .030" washer over the front punching).
> Regards, 
> 
> Ed Foote RPT