after touch comes key dip

[antares]

> From: "Isaac OLEG" <oleg-i@wanadoo.fr>
> Reply-To: oleg-i@wanadoo.fr, Pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Date: Thu, 24 Oct 2002 11:17:15 +0200
> To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Subject: RE: after touch and key dip
> 
> Hello Amsterdam, what's up ?...

must come down..... (;
> 
> You wrote A such precise description that nobody can comment on it.

There are quite a few possibilities here :

1. Everybody here knows about this issue already so it's old hat.
2. It is soooo boring that an uncontrollable yawn must have been the only
answer.
3. Everybody hates me and they all have decided to never react again to my
posts.
4. Americans could have decided to avoid any further contact with dem
Euro's.
5. I could go on because I have a lively fantasy but Let us see what the
answer will be now.

> 
> 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)

But in the end Isaac, we must keep in mind the pressure of each individual
key frame bolt. If it is too much, the tone will be 'too dominant', if it is
too little, the tone will be less strong and the key frame might rattle.
Be it a Steinway or a Yamaha, the principle remains the same.

> 
> -----------------
>> 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"

What's this about?

>, 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 ?

Of course, besides, you have no alternative.

 
>> 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 ahorizontal 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.

What I meant to say is that by pressing down the key very lightly, the
hammer should move upwards 0,4 mm.
  
> I bet it is different from action to action, depending of the kind of
> whippen, the position of the roller on the lever,

But it should not differ.
The only difference comes with harder or softer front punching.
The harder the punching, the more precise we can make-or measure after touch
and the louder the tone.
I am of the opinion that soft front punching should be replaced immediately.
In our work place we do this as a standard.

>> 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 ...."


In that case I refer to the beginning of this e-mail where I offered my 5
possibilities. Maybe more possibilities are an option? (;


> 
> Warms Regards from France.

Is it warm in France then?
or are your eyes warm?
 (;
 
> Isaac OLEG
> 
moi, 
l'oreille


friendly greetings
from

Antares,

Amsterdam, Holland

"where music is, no harm can be"

visit my website at :  http://www.concertpianoservice.nl/