Key Excursion

[David Love]

In fact, that was exactly my approach.  I had them take measurements from an
agreeable piano comparing keyboard height from the floor and elbow height
from the floor in similar proportion thinking that bench adjustments might
have been made relative to how one's legs feel on the floor rather than how
the arm lines up with the keyboard height.  It might turn out to be the
issue and I'll find out soon as the appointment (all day) to try and address
this subtle issue is coming up.  

We did have the long discussion about how the slope of the key is kind
basically a given quantity in a piano, assuming it's put together correctly:
key height off the keybed, backrail cloth of x thickness equals a pretty
predictable slope.  It is one of the things I will be checking.  I'm not
totally averse to satisfying arbitrary wishes, or at least trying to.
Sometimes people are sensitive to strange things.  While those things have
often fallen into the range of "normal", I'm not averse to trying to find
the pea in the mattress...as long as the meter is running.     

David Love
davidlovepianos at comcast.net 

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Ron Nossaman
Sent: Monday, April 17, 2006 9:33 PM
To: Pianotech List
Subject: Re: Key Excursion


> Interesting that you should bring this up as I have a customer recently
who
> claims that his 9' piano has too much inclination and wants it altered.
It
> has made me begin to think about what the optimum inclination might be.
It
> will vary from piano to piano and with key length, of course.  The piano
> itself will limit the kinds of changes one can make.  For example, by the
> height of the fall board when in the up position, the thickness of the
> keyframe at both the back and the front, convergence limits, height of the
> wippen cushion over the key/capstan position, damper timing consideration,
> etc.. It seems like the key certainly has to start with an upward
> inclination.  Whether it travels through level and finishes with a
downward
> inclination or finishes at level and then to what degree seems to be the
> question.  Wish I had an answer as I will be having to try and figure out
> just what the best solution is for this person fairly soon.  
> 
> David Love


Isn't that what adjustable height benches are for? Perhaps the 
warped can be otherwise inclined, with an elevation adjustment 
and an introduction to the basics of geometric reality. Most 
of it was nailed down within pretty narrow limits on the 
drawing board before the thing was even built. I really don't 
see much potential for this sort of modification, especially 
in a piano with long key sticks, other than in repainting the 
fantasies of the owner. As you note, there are real limits to 
what you can physically do to meet the arbitrary wishes of the 
customer. The rest is pretty much glandular massage. It's a 
bummer, I know, but some of the people out there have never 
had anyone tell them the truth about anything at all, and 
aren't equipped to process it. Still, it's worth a try.

I do wonder, with someone concerned about key inclination, how 
the placement of the pedals relative to their finger position 
on the key tops, and bench height, corresponds to their body 
proportions. Seems to me that it has to be geometrically 
related, and a change in seating height might just make the 
subjective difference. You don't have to "fix" the inclination 
if you can modify the impression that it needs fixed.

Unofficial Monday night musings,
Ron N