Key Stiffness (was Re: Hornbeam)

[Delwin D Fandrich]

Barrie Heaton wrote:

> Terminological question? Are you referring to the hardwood insert at the
> balance of the key, which is about 50mm long and 10mm deep  or is this
> plate you have drawn in part of the keybed
>
> Barrie,

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It is an overlay applied to the bottom of the key.  In this case it was
approximately 4 mm high by 150 mm long (and as wide as the key) roughly centered
on the center pin.  The key body was approximately 23 mm tall making the overall
height of the key at the centerpin approximately 27 mm.  (I say "approximately"
because this was approximately 8 or 9 years ago and they say as you get older you
begin to loose a few things, but I don't remember what they are....)

These bottom plates were fairly common on keys some decades back.  They were
usually made of maple or some other similar hardwood.  The had the advantage of
stiffening the key without adding a lot of mass, i.e., the entire key body did not
have to be a tall and massive to provide adequate overall key stiffness.  (Piano
builders used to worry about such things....)

Del