Hi Ed, Andrè, others. Its not really true at Yamaha either. One of the first things I noticed in my two month long visits to the academy was that to achieve satisfying <<correct in their terminology>> aftertouch one needed to float the hammer blow difference. This was something the instructors openly admitted and justified by simply saying this is how we decide to do things here. In the course of each 2 month session I had to change 8 sets of hammers, regulate, and voice. Their spec was an "exact" 10 mm dip, and the resulting variance in blow from hammer set to hammer set ranged from 44 mm to 49. And that was just on one piano. (I had the same instrument both times). The need to alter the general blow difference reflects the exact same kind of needs one finds key to key. It is just simply impossible to be so exacting in parts construction and installation to not need to float one of the three. Informed choices as to which to float, along with precise regulation otherwise is all that is needed to achieve a wonderful regulation. Indeed... as far as key dip goes... even there pianists preferences differ and we simply MUST be able to supply alterations that still fill all requirements of a beautifully regulated instrument. Like many, I choose aftertouch priority. In my case as taught by L. Edwards, Yamaha America. And I choose that very thoughtfully and after paying very close attention to the alternatives. Cheers RicB >>Give any decent instrument a really good and precise key dip and regulation and the result will almost always be very nice and very satisfying. Perhaps on a very tightly controlled production line, but with the handbuilt pianos, I rarely find this to be true. If the key dip is exactly the same, and the hammer line is straight, the aftertouch is going to be all over the map. With New York Steinway, my priorities for consistancy are aftertouch, hammerline, then keydip. So, if I am regulating for the highest level, I am going to split the error and allow blow and keydip to both vary slightly so that aftertouch remains consistant. It feels better than if I allow dip to take up all the inequalities of the action. If I have to change a measured, pre-set, key dip by more .005" I will either raise or lower the blow. It takes very little change. When combined, the two deviations become totally invisible and the action feels more even than most players are accustomed to. Regards, Ed Foote RPT
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