Andre's Front Punchings vs Schimmels

[Kent Swafford]

Your mileage may vary.

In a blind test (not double-blind) I put Crescendo punchings on a concert D
at my university.The pianists didn't know what I had done, or indeed that I
had done anything -- but they didn't like it.

I left the Crescendos on for several months. I finally removed them, because
there was general dissatisfaction with the piano. With the original
punchings restored, again without telling anyone that I had done anything,
there were many compliments about how the touch improved. I thought that one
of the functions of the key punchings was to cushion the blows to pianists'
fingers, and that without sufficient cushioning, playing will be
uncomfortable. I don't think Crescendo punchings provide sufficient
cushioning; I suspect that they can make playing uncomfortable for the
pianist.

I don't use Crescendo punchings. Sorry.


Kent Swafford



On Feb 5, 2008 6:49 AM, Jon Page <jonpage at comcast.net> wrote:

>  This non-"voicing" voicing is quite intriguing...
>
>
> In KC I did a test with a small group of techs. Using samples
> from Jurgen, we compared the original punching to Crescendo
> straight-sided and conical-cut punchings.
>
> The consensus was that the straight cut produced a slightly better
> tone than the original and the conical cut punching was better than that.
> However when we turned the conical punching over (narrow side on bottom)
> the tone diminished.
>
> So the orientation of the conical punching is critical.  Which was why on
> those
> Asian uprights, I could notice a difference playing chromatically. A
> simple fix :-)
> However, conical punchings are not suitable for all verticals either.
>
> On a 3 y/o S&S S which needed the key travel to be increased I recommended
> the Crescendo punchings and made a test on C4.  The piano owner was
> surprised
> how much the tone focused when the new punching was installed, "That
> wavering
> went away", she said.  The action felt better too with a more positive
> landing to the key.
>
> All in a day's work in super-hero-land.
>
> Regards,
>
> Jon Page
>
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