At 1:31 pm -0600 26/8/06, Cy Shuster wrote: >...Another interesting feature is the una corda shift. Since >there's no lost motion (shanks rest above the hammer rest rail, like >a grand), the hammers are pushed closer to the strings by simply >lifting the backs of the keys, with a piece of wood like a damper >tray underneath them. So to set key height, you simply turn a wing >nut on the threaded rod connecting the pedal rod to the tray. Very >convenient! Ah. There's no sign of this feature in the pictures I saw here: <http://www.dreams.org/staff/composer/music/piano/fandrich-action/>. So all the keys move down when you press the half-blow pedal? Rather disconcerting in my experience, for certain old uprights do have forward-weighted keys. There's no substitute for a proper una corda shift but so far as I know only Blüthner and Brinsmead ever did it. Herrburger-Schwander made a very beautiful repetition action for uprights in the early 1900s in order to meet the exigencies of the player piano. It was fitted to most Bechsteins and the bigger Broadwoods. I can't find a picture of it right now. As to the action that feels most like a grand, I'd think immediately of the old Steinway action with the H flange. This was designed for excellent repetition without the need for fancy additions and when properly set up with new hammers behaves very much like a grand and feels very meaty. There have been dozens of upright "repetition action" designs over the past 120 years but a properly regulated and balanced upright action even without these additions will repeat very well. JD
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