[pianotech] Leveling keys

[David Love]

You can crown them in order to anticipate settling but it won't do any good
as far as aftertouch or dip are concerned unless you set excessive
aftertouch and dip in the center of the piano to begin with.  As far as
equivalent settling in the middle and front rail I don't think it happens
that way in practice.  A small change at the center of the key makes for a
larger change at the front rail than will happen by beating down the front
rail punching.  The way to minimize this is to either precompress the
balance rail felt punching or use a thinner one, which is what I do.  I use
those red hitch pin punching (PH-1 from Pianotek) for the balance rail when
I'm replacing the action felt.  It's  thinner and less prone to compression
change. Starting with some crown in the keyboard (it's actually more like 1
mm than 2 as I suggested below (1/32") doesn't really matter as far as I'm
concerned.  Slightly crowned or slightly flat either way is fine with me.
But the piano still needs to be set up with uniform dip and aftertouch and
any settling in the center of the piano will require that you make an
adjustment whichever way you start.  

David Love
www.davidlovepianos.com

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Piano Boutique
Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 4:51 AM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Leveling keys

If the keys in the middle of the action will settle, then isn't that enough 
to plan for.   Also if the center rail will settle with playing, so will the

front rail be beaten down.

William



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Love" <davidlovepianos at comcast.net>
To: <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 9:28 PM
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Leveling keys


> Not to be disagreeable but I don't think those are functional reasons. 
> The
> difference in the amount of key over the front pin is not significant with
> only a 2 mm rise in the middle.  Also, assuming the aftertouch is set
> uniformly to begin with then whether the keys are level or curved the
> aftertouch will diminish as the keys settle in the middle.
>
> David Love
> www.davidlovepianos.com
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On 
> Behalf
> Of A440A at aol.com
> Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 6:02 PM
> To: pianotech at ptg.org
> Subject: Re: [pianotech] Leveling keys
>
> Joe writes:
> << Steinways key cover is straight, as well. Why do they advocate a curved
> keyboard??? I have asked and NO ONE has ever told me: #1 when that policy
> started. #2 why that policy started. #3 what advantage, if any, this would
> do.
> When they come up with a rationale, (yeah, like that's going to happen!),
> reason...I'll keep setting them keys FLAT/LEVEL/Parallel! >>
>
> Greetings,
>    One reason is that if the keybed and keyframe are curved, you have to
> level the keys in a similar fashion
> if you want them to all be sitting over the same amount of front pin.
>    Another is that worn keyboards all seem to have a reverse curve to the
> key level, so beginning them with a slight curve upwards will maintain
> usuable amounts of aftertouch longer than if they were flat.
>      There, that is two functional reasons.
>
> regards,
>
> Ed Foote RPT
> http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html
> www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html
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