regulation extremes?

[A440A@aol.com]

(I am also really tired of the junk postings on the list!!!!! We have lists 
for humor, and lists for politics, but please!  if you need a forum for your 
thoughts on either topic, go somewhere else and stop trashing our tech list!) 
 



<< To try to decrease the aftertouch I lowered the sample hammers to 1 13/16 
distance and even more, still - aftertouch too much!  Am I missing something? 
 A fine pianist is coming to do a program on this instrument soon and I want 
it to be "right".  >>

Greetings, 
   Steinways call for custom regulation specs. They are all different, so 
your set-up will be too.  Here are some beginning  ideas.    All the stuff 
like keybedding, spring setting, and key leveling etc. should be done before 
any of this.   
    This sounds like a high ratio action, which means the hammer gets all of 
its distance covered with less than normal key movement.  These actions tend 
to have a lot of lead in them and often begin to feel heavier and heavier as 
you play them harder and harder,(inertia problems surpassing down/weight 
ease).  If the key leading is normal, and you have average down/weight, the 
hammers may be rather small. 

    "Too much aftertouch" means either the key dip is too deep or the hammers 
are too high, or the let-off is too low.  The amount of drop and the 
beginning position of the jack/knuckle will not change aftertouch dimensions. 
  If you lower the hammers a lot, you will need to recheck both of these 
measurments, (and don't forget the springs)
    The hammer shanks can't be too far off the cushion or you risk 
catastropic repetition failure.  The key dip can't be much over .410", (and 
many pianists feel that is too deep),  otherwise, the sharps will be too tall 
or they will begin to bury themselves at the bottom of the stroke.  
Soooo.......
   
    I would suggest you lower the hammer line until it is approx. has at 
least 1/8" and no more than 3/16" clearance over the rest cushions, set your 
let-off as closely as possible, (I usually set it to just clear the string 
excursion zone with two staccato blows while the damper is held by the 
sostenuto), and then place a .35" punching on top of the front rail punching. 
 Slowly depress the key and add punchings until the hammer just barely 
escapes upon contact of the key to the punchings.  Then remove the .40" 
punching.   This is the "aftertouch priority" method and will give you 
consistant aftertouch, (and slightly varied keydip).  You may substitute a 
thinner or thicker dimension  if your sense of touch calls for it. The more 
aftertouch, the slower the repetition, (see R. Jolly's postings on the "black 
hole" of aftertouch).  
     
   If some keys have radically different keydips because of this, you can 
split the difference between hammer blow and keydip, ie, if a key still has 
.40" aftertouch but is less than 3/8", you can lower the hammer on that key, 
if the dip is too deep on one key that has .40" aftertouch, raise the hammer 
a little.  This leaves a slightly ragged hammerline, but will allow your dip 
AND aftertouch to become more consistant.  
     Ideally, when the hammer is held in check, the jack will be located 
equally between the proximal side of the knuckle and the mortise stop felt.  
You can cheat on this backwards or forwards, but if the jack has excessive 
pressure on the mortise felt it will endanger the jack tail glue joints and 
cause rapid wear on the let-off punchings.  Backcheck distance will affect 
this positioning, too, (the lower the checking, the less room there is for 
the jack between the knuckle and the back of the mortise).  
   There is no need for the drop position to be farther from the string than 
let-off.  It will  change, however, with change of keydip, so be ready to 
recheck it.  The backcheck distance will also change with keydip , so don't 
forget to go over it after all else is done. 
Regards,  Ed Foote RPT 
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html