Well I have set up different capstan lines for sharps and naturals in order
to try and match action ratios. Remember, of course, that if you need to
set up different capstan positions for the sharps and naturals in order to
get the overall action ratios to match it will not be enough to simply
create positions that result in equal key ratios. You will have to take
into consideration the different interface on the wippen lever as well and
the combined effect of the two. Anyway, when they have differed I have
generally found that the key ratios were not hugely different: maybe .5 to
.52. Enough that you would end up with two different front weight curves,
one for the sharps and one for the naturals, if you are doing it that way.
But, as I mentioned, I haven't found that to be a real problem in terms of
pianist perception. Usually, if the key ratios are off and you try and fix
them with an uneven capstan line then you will have some other compromise
somewhere else in terms of convergence lines and such. In these cases there
usually isn't a perfect solution no matter which way you go.
David Love
www.davidlovepianos.com
From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Mark
Dierauf
Sent: Sunday, May 09, 2010 6:02 PM
To: caut at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Capstan relocation questions
Good points David. I may be over obsessing about this to some extent, but
I'm looking to squeeze as much quality out of this this spec piano as good
as I possibly can, as well as learning as much as I can in the process. I
agree with you completely about predictability - that's the word I like to
use myself to describe the ideal piano from the pianist's point of view.
- Mark
David Love wrote:
I don't know about differences in the hand but there are differences
depending on where you play the key. You could make an argument that since
when the black keys are played along with the white keys it tends to be
farther into the white keys. Because the action ratio changes depending on
where you play the key (it gets higher as you move toward the balance rail)
then with a higher sharp ratio you might have greater uniformity in actual
playing. So what does a pianist notice? It's impossible to say. Much
seems to go unnoticed often. In reality the touch weight dynamics as they
relate to action ratios are rarely uniform in practice to the pianist
because they don't really play any two notes in the same proximity to the
balance rail. While making the ratio between sharps and naturals equal
makes sense on one hand, a varying action ratio between the two within
reason probably goes unnoticed. What pianists notice is predictability. If
the key(s) respond as they expect the will before they play the note they
will be happy assuming things are set up within reasonable specifications.
If they have no was to assess what to expect in anticipation of playing a
note or group of notes, they will be unhappy.
David Love
www.davidlovepianos.com
-----Original Message-----
From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Mark
Dierauf
Sent: Sunday, May 09, 2010 7:14 AM
To: caut at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Capstan relocation questions
Many thanks, Ron - your insight is much appreciated. As to your last
point, my concern is whether this will feel noticeably different to a
concert level pianist. I may decide, from a purely technical point of
view, that identical ratios between sharps and naturals are preferable,
but that doesn't necessarily make the pianist happy. It does seem
perfectly plausible to me that, given the physiological differences
between the individual fingers of the hand and the empirical origins and
long history of the keyboard (and the compositions written for it) that
there might actually be a compelling argument in favor of differing
ratios. What I'm wondering is simply whether or not pianists have
noticed the difference between these two setups and whether their
reaction was favorable or not.
- Mark
Ron Overs wrote:
<div class="moz-text-flowed" style="font-family: -moz-fixed">Mark,
. . . The "magic line" at half-stroke: WNG is recommending using
different heels for the sharps to maintain this, but I'm a little
concerned about how this will actually feel in the finished action.
I've been doing this since 2000 when fitting our action. Very often
the spacing between the two balance pin lines, for the black and white
keys, is incorrect, so the capstan line might need to be located
differently for the black and white notes.
After all, pianists have spent the past three centuries getting used
to slightly different touch characteristics between sharps and
naturals, and I want this action to feel good, not unusual.
If feeling unusual means that the hammer/key ratio is the same for
both black and white keys, then I'd prefer it to feel unusual.
Ron O.
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