Odd dimensions of sharps.

[Byeway222@aol.com]

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Hi Michael and List,
 
I had forgotten about those round fronted sharps on Collards  (I think  
Brinsmead did them as well).  It's amazing that they went to all the  trouble of 
cutting the ivory to accommodate them, in fact, tonally most of those  pianos 
were not worth all the trouble and decent materials which often went  into them. 
 They all sounded as though they had been strung with loose  knicker elastic.
 
However, the subject of sharps and their size and shape has always  
interested me as a pianist as well as a technician.  I have always been  conscious of 
sharps being comfortable or uncomfortable and I think that  pianists often do 
not realise that one of the many reasons they don't  like the 'feel' of a piano 
is, in fact the sharps.  I have a very good  and immediate comparison in a 
college here, where I have a Steinway B and a  Yamaha S6 in the same room.  All 
the upper end of the market Yamahas have  rather 'chunky' sharps with quite an 
exaggerated front bevel. I  believe that they are made from some sort of 
composite material which resembles  wood. The Steinway still has much neater and 
thinner sharps which I have  now found, from questioning pianists, they prefer. 
 Oddly, the smaller  and cheaper Yamahas have plastic sharps with much neater 
( and in my opinion)  more comfortable dimensions.  Over the years, my 
recollections  of  different keyboards often takes me back to a really super Knabe  
grand.  There are very few in UK, but this was a stunning piano musically,  
but it had the most incredibly 'short' sharps I have ever come accross. You felt 
 as though you were going to collide with the nameboard at any minute.
 
It would be interesting to hear other opinions on this whole business of  
keyboards and their 'feel' as a result of materials and their size and  shaping.  
Just as the recently discussed Wurzen front punchings  appear to be part of a 
general building up of agreeable feel and tone, so, I  feel this business of 
keyboard materials, design and finish are also a very  important part of the 
picture.
 
 
 
 

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