Strike Point

[Tony Caught]

Hi Ron,

Hey, I'm asking the questions.

Lost a lot of me stuff when I was working in China in '92. In the scales I
designed I used 1/8 through bass and tenor, slow increase from C5 to F6 to
about 1/12th then up to 1/17th on C8.

Am not sure of B'dorf but A0 is 1/7th and remains the same thought bass and
tenor. where the rise starts am not sure. Have also been told by a tech from
a B'dorf dealer that they stopped doing that and now work on 1/8th. To me it
still looked 1/7th.

Remember when we were discussing the killer octave it the treble on
Steinway's ? and one person said move the hammer line  to a sweeter point
will correct the problem ?. The difference is a change in the harmonic
structure to further enhance the tone or shall we say to bring the power of
more partials in to alignment to increase sustain and etc.  (maybe hides the
problem) That is but a small shift. To change from 1/8th to 1/7th is a lot.

I am the wrong person to go into the timbre of the piano in detail (that is
whom I am looking for) but the different tones of different musical groups
are divided into Sine, Sawtooth and Square wave forms. It is the different
partials at different amplitudes that denote the timbre of the tone we
listen to.

Now to hit on 1/8 strike point I THINK gives more of a brass sound and to
hit on 1/7th strike point I THINK gives more of a string sound. I THINK I
THINK I THINK .

A pianist can pick the difference with there ears shut. It is that much.
Well some of them anyway.

Anyway, what I am trying to find out does Bosendorfer now set the basic
strike point at 1/7th and does Steinway set their strike point at 1/8th and
if so, why.

Its like many things in the piano that many of us don't understand because
the factories are light on explanations. Why.

Regards

Tony


> Hi Tony,
> 1/7 or 1/8 where in the scale? How about generally around 1/8 from bass to
mid
> scale, then 1/12 to 1/16 at the top. I don't know how the strike point
> proportions differ between the pianos, or deviate from those general
> proportions, but the differences in sound between the B'dorf and Steinway
are
> way more than the poor little strike point can account for.
>
> It would be interesting to have a large number of pianists chose a piano
from
> among a dozen representing a half dozen brands, draped and partitioned so
that
> the only clues they got as to what they were playing were the feel and
sound of
> the instrument. Then wheel all the pianos out into the open, shuffle
> thoroughly, and have the pianists again choose an instrument when they can
see
> what they're playing.
>
> I wonder how many would choose the same one both times. The one with the
> biggest casters might be the most popular after all.
>
> I also wonder how many pianists would be willing to try this.
>
> Just some peripheral thoughts.
>
> Ron N