This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment Yes, Richard, I agree with the sharp business. There are many pianos I simply cannot get my fingers in between them! Height also plays a major role in this. As for those older pianos, the Brinsmeads in particular I find extremely good tonally. Even very old uprights with the una-corda (L) pedal. The strings are remarkable too - notice the coppery finish on the lower steel strings - not the covered ones - I have found they respond very well indeed to pitch raising - even from G#=440 ! Regards Michael G.(UK) _____ From: Byeway222@aol.com [mailto:Byeway222@aol.com] Sent: 06 October 2005 00:00 To: pianotech@ptg.org Subject: Re: Odd dimensions of sharps. Hi Michael and List, I had forgotten about those round fronted sharps on Collards (I think Brinsmead did them as well). It's amazing that they went to all the trouble of cutting the ivory to accommodate them, in fact, tonally most of those pianos were not worth all the trouble and decent materials which often went into them. They all sounded as though they had been strung with loose knicker elastic. However, the subject of sharps and their size and shape has always interested me as a pianist as well as a technician. I have always been conscious of sharps being comfortable or uncomfortable and I think that pianists often do not realise that one of the many reasons they don't like the 'feel' of a piano is, in fact the sharps. I have a very good and immediate comparison in a college here, where I have a Steinway B and a Yamaha S6 in the same room. All the upper end of the market Yamahas have rather 'chunky' sharps with quite an exaggerated front bevel. I believe that they are made from some sort of composite material which resembles wood. The Steinway still has much neater and thinner sharps which I have now found, from questioning pianists, they prefer. Oddly, the smaller and cheaper Yamahas have plastic sharps with much neater ( and in my opinion) more comfortable dimensions. Over the years, my recollections of different keyboards often takes me back to a really super Knabe grand. There are very few in UK, but this was a stunning piano musically, but it had the most incredibly 'short' sharps I have ever come accross. You felt as though you were going to collide with the nameboard at any minute. It would be interesting to hear other opinions on this whole business of keyboards and their 'feel' as a result of materials and their size and shaping. Just as the recently discussed Wurzen front punchings appear to be part of a general building up of agreeable feel and tone, so, I feel this business of keyboard materials, design and finish are also a very important part of the picture. ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/65/1e/fa/62/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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