Ryan Sowers wrote: > I knew I'd get in trouble for my comments! : ) > > It is true that you can /hear the differenceI /between hammers that > swing 4 and hammers that swing 8. The hammers with less friction will > spend a slightly less amount of time on the string. The more tightly > pinned ones will stay on a microsecond longer dampening out the > highest partials. Xcuse me.... a microsecond ???? where is the data that supports both these claims ? This sounds like conjecture to me, and I doubt seriously it would stand up to labratory testing. Besides... the kind of sound difference you describe is simply not the kind of sound difference I hear. I hear no change in the partial ladder.. nor is one measureable with the rather crude tool that Cyber tuner yeilds. On the other hand it does conform to exactly the kind of difference achieved when assuring that the hammer makes solid contact with all three unisons. > Is the hammer getting off the string faster a bad thing? I don't think > so. Of course for voicing purposes consistancy is the key. A side issue, not connected here as far as I can see. Tho I am willing to look at any real data someone has on the matter. > > If the flange is well sized, burnished, and lubricated it can > swing 8-10 (I'm not talking treble hammers here) times yet still be > firm enough to prevent excessive side play. Alignment, traveling and > hammer to string mating will keep the hammer on course. I have to stand by what I origionally said... the firmer the better because of increased stability... there is no good enough really... only a point where that goal comes in conflict with the actions need to repeat quick enough to just exceed any pianists physical abilities to play fast. Which is not as fast as some might think. > > Less friction = greater upweight and lower downweight no argument. > > Lastly, as a player I just like the /feel/ of a more free action (if > the voicing and regulating are good). Thats what made me a follower of > Darrel Fandrich's work. I played one of his grand pianos at a national > conference: I felt someone had turned up my playing ability a notch! Well... here we are in an area that is of course impossible to argue. One that touches on several discussion themes and, is openly subjective in formulation. Fine... grin.. I can deal with that. What you like is what you like. Personally... I notice immediatly that ff levels, much less fff becomes sloppy sounding, and depending on the conditions of each side of the bushing that results in a net 8-10 swings... one outright looses power beyond a certain degree of ff play. Tho certainly, the psychological affect combined with the real phsyical affect of fly away hammers can yeild the sensation that one gains output for same input. Course the flip side of this is that you are removing one of the natural built in breaks to the system that allows a pianist more dynamic control. Sure.. this in turn demands more from the pianist... but there is always a trade off... if not 5 or six. This discussion came up a few months back... and I read the many posts with interest. Tastes do vary...and one certainly has to allow for differing tastes. That said... as a standard, I stay with friction levels that yeild around a 12 - 14 gram total action friction. Less then that causes more often then not more criticism from the majority of the pianists I run into then the other way around. Cheers RicB > > I still maintaing that *very free* is *not *the same as *loose*. > > > > Ryan Sowers, RPT Puget Sound Chapter > Pianova Piano Service > Olympia, WA > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Do you Yahoo!? > Win 1 of 4,000 free domain names from Yahoo! Enter now > <http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=26640/*http://promotions.yahoo.com/goldrush>.
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