Ric, That's a very open-ended and broadly undefined question. I suspect you'll get lot's of answers to questions you didn't think you were asking. Clarifying questions: Are you talking about good heaviness or bad heaviness? (pianists need to feel a certain amount of weight in order to have control). What about friction? Are you assuming "optimal" friction? How much is that? Not a complete answer, by any stretch of the imagination, but a couple examples of extremes. 1. Tuned yesterday for a customer whose kids are into composing/arranging/recording, pretty complete stable of electronics, including a brand new Yamaha keyboard with "weighted keys". Extreme example: all the inertia is the key. Unnatural and uncontrollable. Heavy. As soon as you begin to move the key, you feel all the inertia of the system. There is no cushioning or delay from the wippen cushion and knuckle. And, since there is no escapement of top-action mass, you've got all that key mass rebounding from the front rail felt at the end of the keystroke. This would be the extreme of minimal top-acton inertia and maximum key inertia. Not good. Interesting psycho-acoustical side note - the unnatural feeling is intensified when playing in the "harpsichord" voice, because you expect an instrument that sounds like that to have a lighter touch. 2. S&S "O" with new (10 years) hammers shanks and flanges, but original verdigris-infested wippens kept in a marginally usable state with annual Protek showers. Balance weight is in the 34 to 38 gm range.. Although the inertia is distrubuted normally among the various components, or maybe a little unbalanced in favor of the genuine Steinway hornbeam hammers, the wippen flange friction keeps you from feeling the hammer inertia and knuckle compression, so it feels heavier than the balance weight would indicate. 3. 1930's Hamilton microgrand. Teacher - owner wants the action "heavier", so her students will have to use proper technique. Balance weight is in the low-to-mid-30's, but there's very little friction, and next to no knuckle compression because of those funky built-in knuckles, and the hammers are very light, and therefore there's very little lead in the keys. AHA!! It's not an either-in-the-keys-or-in-the-top-action choice, because the less you have in the top action, the less you put in the keys!! For anyone who's made it through all this rambling thinking-out-loud, here's my final answer: I think there is a fairly wide range of inertia that can be made to feel OK (i.e. appropirate heavyness), but this can be sabotaged by friction (too much or too little), or by too-soft or too-hard knuckles. Just read Bill Ballard's reply. Agree 100% with your tail-and-dog analogy. I'd also put friction and knuckle compression on the list of things that can cause-prevent hammer fly-away. just my 2 cents Mike Spalding RPT > [Original Message] > From: Richard Brekne <Richard.Brekne@grieg.uib.no> > To: PTG <pianotech@ptg.org> > Date: 8/23/2003 11:08:51 AM > Subject: What matters most ? > > Hi touchweight enthusiasts > > Conversations with a few folks recently prompt me to put a question to > you all relative to the problem of action inertia and touchweight. So... > I''ll ask without further ado > > Whats is more important to the <<heaviness>> of the action, the inertia > of the hammer and top action, or that of the key. Or if there exists a > kind of border condition where one becomes more important then the other > and vice versa.... what is that condition ? > > Thanks for any thoughts > RicB > > -- > Richard Brekne > RPT, N.P.T.F. > UiB, Bergen, Norway > mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no > http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html > http://www.hf.uib.no/grieg/personer/cv_RB.html > > > _______________________________________________ > pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
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