--On Thursday, June 3, 2004 2:32 PM -0500 Mark Cramer <Cramer@BrandonU.CA> wrote: > Regarding the "the bump," my preference is to have this sensation as > "crisp" as possible, and as late as possible, IOW, the least functional > key travel remaining after escapement, the better. > > Or to say the same thing differently; .045" A/T in an Steinway usually > "seems" right, whereas anything more than .035" in a Yamaha (pardon my > generalization), and the "bump" becomes objectionable. Syncronization and > correct after-touch seem to go hand in hand. IMHO > > Mark Cramer, > Brandon University Yes, that's in keeping with my own preferences. I wonder, how exactly do you measure aftertouch? I do it by placing a .045 gauge on top of the front rail punching. Play the key slowly until it just touches the gauge. At this point the upward movement of the hammer should have just stopped, and the tender should have contacted the button. Squeeze the key downward, and letoff starts to occur, but there is no hammer movement (unless you squeeze a whole lot and letoff occurs). Then, if you want .040, you just place a .005 punching (or if you want .050, remove a .005 punching, etc). So, IOW, this measured "aftertouch" actually includes letoff - the movement of the jack along the knuckle. The true "after" part of aftertouch being quite a bit less, but definitely present, causing the hammer to rise from drop just perceptibly on a controlled slow stroke. Regards, Fred Sturm University of New Mexico
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