after touch and key dip

[Isaac OLEG]

Hello Amsterdam, what's up ?...


You wrote A such precise description that nobody can comment on it.

Nowadays, you say :

> We always have to change the key dip as the key bed moves
> along with the humidity, due to the change of season.

> If the key dip is like 9.5 mm and the key height is 63+ it
> is an easy matter : we just raise the frame a little and make sure
> that afterwards the frame is connected tight enough on all pressure
points with  the key bed at the same time. Most (Yamaha) techs are
more or less a little tolerant  about the key height not being exactly
64 as it is also a matter of economy, that's understandable.


I've find the Steinway to be such tone sensitive on that matter that I
rarely can play a lot with the regulating screws if the keys are a
little low, the tone close very much if I do and became to woody.
(But I understand you talk about a Yamaha there)

-----------------
> When I did not know very much about grand regulation, I
> used to check the striking distance with this yellow Yamaha
measuring tool.
> >From concert-Yamaha techs I learned how to go without this
> tool and play it> by 'feel' and it was a very important learning
moment for me.

Sure "Sportsman Andre", and I noticed that work on many pianos. But on
the beginning of the job it is OK to make a rough hammer line and
check a strike distance as to be in the standard spot ?
------------------------

> Actually it is amazingly simple and should be taught at all
> piano tech schools :
>
> We draw a curved line which represents the striking distance.
> It ends just before the string as let off takes place.
> Drop follows, and the up-going line goes down sharply for a
> very short while.
> At the end of this short line going down we draw a
> horizontal line : we have reached the bottom, which is the front
punching.
> A perfect after-touch should be a movement of about 0.4 mm
> when we press the key - gently - down into the punching.

Do you mean a hammer rise movement? I understood it as a movement of
the key after letoff.

I do that by feel, and if the aftertouch is 0.4 (at the key), the
hammer seems to move the same or a little less that the key (not
much).

What is the ratio between hammer rise and key movement after let off ?

I bet it is different from action to action, depending of the kind of
whippen, the position of the roller on the lever,

> Pianists often find this moment of after-touch the most  important
one and three after-touch possibilities should be available to them :

 'Hard landing, neutral/medium landing, soft landing'.

> The tone is generous, strong enough and does not need a lot
> of needling.
> The 0,4 mm after-touch is standard.
> This may seem all too easy but, as a matter of fact, it is
> an art in itself.
> The more precise and sensitive we are, the finer the touch
> and the more subtle and rich the tone.

After saying that you can quit the show under the applause !

In French :" Il ne reste plus qu'a tirer l'echelle ...."


Warms Regards from France.

Isaac OLEG