High-speed movie

[John Musselwhite]

Hi All...

Back in March of '95 (Has it really been three years?) Bill Ballard posted
the following message. Does anyone know if anything came of this project?
Thanks for any info.

_____________________________________________
Date: Sun, 26 Mar 1995 12:16:08 -0500  
From: Yardbird47@aol.com  
To: pianotech@byu.edu  
Cc: 70444.31@compuserve.com  
Subject: Jr. Science Project  

The NH Chapter's dream has come true. You may remember discussion of  
exploration to inner workings of deep and fast repetition using high-speed  
videography. The NH Chapter will get to film an afternoon's worth of the  
stuff on a machine capable of 2000 frames/sec. (Figure a maximum relevant  
rate of 15 reps/sec, and chopping each of these into 20 frames, we're only  
using 15% of the hardware's frame speed capablilty.)  
So as not to waste our benefactor's time, we'll have all of our trials laid  
out in advance. We'll use a grand action model with the vertical panel  
replaced to hold actual piano wire. We'll use three kinds of wire, in  
addition to the action model's 1/4" rod: 2" s/l of #13, a long thin
overwound  
and a short fat overwound. In addition to varying what the hammer bounces  
off, we'll also vary regulation: slim/fat aftertouch let-off and drop, hi/lo  
check, weak/strong rep spring. The extent to which we'll go through all of  
the possible above combinations we don't know. (Remember that we'll be  
transfer 300 frames/sec to standard VHS video, that's a ten-fold increase in  
viewing time, and the 20 frames per rep is only 15% of what's available.)  
Michael Wathen's flexing hammershanks should be clearly visible,  but we  
don't plan to substitute a longer key to introduce flex to that lever.  
We'd look forward to any suggestions y'all may have for an illuminating  
afternoon.    
Bill Ballard RPT    ".....the 'Pentium Happens' bumper sticker on his
Miata."  
NH Chapter, PTG                MacUser Magazine 5/95      

John Musselwhite, RPT  - Calgary, Alberta Canada 
musselj@cadvision.com - http://www.cadvision.com/musselj/