More off the wall stuff

[David Love]

The knuckle mounting was moved from 16.5 to 17mm which allowed for a
slightly higher strike weight.

Of course, "no change" in the touchweight was not possible given the problem
with the loose centers.  The challenge was trying to determine what was
really being sensed and it's a very hard question to answer, even for a very
"aware" pianist.  In the end, I really just decided to set it up the way I
thought was best and that didn't stray too much from what was there and
hoped for the best.

I think we might underestimate the importance of setting up and controlling
friction as a component of how the action feels.  It is interesting that her
first response was that the action was lighter.  It was in terms of balance
weight, was not in terms of down weight and was not in terms of friction.

A 42g BW pushes it a little over the edge for me with the friction range I
describe.  If the friction edges up a little because you've achieved that BW
with a higher strike weight, then it can get a bit cumbersome.  Not that it
couldn't be handled, but it becomes harder to play with total relaxation as
the weight climbs.  I thinks most pianists want to feel that they can
achieve what they want without tension.  For a big pianist it may not be a
problem, but for many others it can create some discomfort, at least in my
experience.


David Love

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Ballard" <yardbird@vermontel.net>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: January 17, 2003 9:09 PM
Subject: Re: More off the wall stuff


At 8:46 PM -0800 1/17/03, David Love wrote:
>An interesting follow up to this.  As you recall the original action
weighed
>at 42g BW and 49 - 50g DW, i.e. very low friction.  When I replaced the
>hammers and shanks, I rebalanced the weight at 38g BW.  With the new
>friction readings that gave about a 51g DW in the middle.  Changes to the
FW
>pattern were minimal 1-3 grams on average still in the 85% range of
maximum.

Sounds as though the new SWs were close to the old ones. If not, then
the knuckle mounting distance stretched on the new shanks. I mean, a
4g shift in BW, with "changes to the FW
pattern were minimal 1-3 grams on average still in the 85% range of
maximum".

>Recall that she didn't want any real change in the touchweight.

I was curious about that term, who was supposed to define it, you or her?

>When she first sat down she said, "Oh, it seems a little lighter".  But
after
>she played it for awhile, she said "Well, I'm not really sure if
>it's heavier or
>lighter, but it feels like butter."  Real quantifiable stuff, eh.

She's feeling the friction, and it sounds as though you've got it
well regulated.

>Anyway, that was a good thing.  Heavier or lighter, she felt that
>she could feel
>the key all the way through the stroke.

As opposed to "fly-away hammers and keys"

>She was happy.  Confirms my current
>sentiment about default settings:  38 g balance weight with a friction
range
>of 15 g in the bass to 10 g in the treble and FW's of about 85% of maximum
>makes for a really nice action.

That's a god profile, especially one to get the reputation of
delivering reliably.

>For concert instruments, I prefer to go up
>to 40 g balance weight. The bit of adrenalin that performers get
>neutralizes that extra bit of weight and keeps the action from running away
>from them if they get too excited.

My old (classical) saxophone teacher told me about reaching for a
slightly harder reed at concert time, than the one he'd prepared the
music with. I personally think that there's a large group of pianists
who don't wouldn't be slowed down by the difference between 38 and 42.

What I was remarking on was the choice you were giving us: friction
or DW. DW is achieved with friction or BW (or both), and because of
that would not be in an either/or trade-off with friction. I was
wondering whether you were surveying people's comprehension of BW.

RickyB of course is nuts. <g>

Bill Ballard RPT
NH Chapter, P.T.G.

"I'll play it and tell you what it is later...."
     ...........Miles Davis
+++++++++++++++++++++
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