<HTML><HEAD> <META charset=US-ASCII http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1106" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff"> <DIV> <DIV>In a message dated 1/30/2008 3:13:55 PM Pacific Standard Time, david@davidandersenpianos.com writes:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Just take it to the bank---really---that most if not all modern acoustic grand pianos operate on a minimum key travel of 10mm. In stone.</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style">Save possibly some Baldwins, which tend to require less key travel for the same amount of hammer travel (I guess this depends on your definition of modern). On an unknown piano, I do like to start at 10 mm, and see what kind of blow that produces, with the kind of aftertouch I like (minimal, .030-.040). One can also look at how the shanks relate to the cushions, at the jacks to see how they appear to be designed to line up, and feel whether there is a sweet spot in the blow distance, beyond which the divergence from the ideal line of centers becomes great enough that the hammer is harder to get going. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style"></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style">Bob D</FONT></DIV><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">Start the year off right. <A title="http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489" href="http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489" target="_blank">Easy ways to stay in shape</A> in the new year. </FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>