[pianotech] Action Ratios Recap

John Delacour JD at Pianomaker.co.uk
Thu Jan 14 19:13:00 MST 2010


At 16:08 -0800 14/1/10, Jason Kanter wrote:

>John, the same day of your detailed and interesting message, David 
>Love asked you:
>
>OK.  So then from a practical standpoint, when converting action ratios as
>calculated by a product of levers to the relationship between dip and the
>requisite hammer rise to achieve a targeted blow distance with adequate
>aftertouch, what would you use?

Well the reason I didn't answer this is because it made little sense 
to me no matter which way I turned it.  There is one way and one way 
only to perform these calculations accurately and that is to use 
trigonometry.  What a "product of levers" means is not clear, but 
there is no way (and no point) to convert something based on a 
falsehood into a correct result.

As to the after-touch, the key must go down far enough after 
escapement commences to allow the roller (knuckle) to clear the face 
of the jack as the hammer falls into check, as is common knowledge. 
At that point the back of the jack is touching but not compressing 
the cushion.  Any further after-touch is unnecessary and detrimental. 
The tail of the jack rolls and slides on the set-off button -- as 
with the roller/jack contact there is inavoidable friction, but the 
exact distance the key must travel to accomplish this optimal 
escapement can be accurately calculated trigonometrically just like 
all the other relationships.


>and I asked you:
>
>John, could you please add a definition of PROFILE?

Though the answer was included in the message that asked the 
question, I have made it clear in a separate message.

JD


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