<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16587" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Kent.........happy to hear from the other side of this issue.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Al G</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=kswafford@gmail.com href="mailto:kswafford@gmail.com">Kent Swafford</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech List</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, February 05, 2008 11:08 AM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Andre's Front Punchings vs Schimmels</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV>Your mileage may vary.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>In a blind test (not double-blind) I put Crescendo punchings on a concert D at my university.The pianists didn't know what I had done, or indeed that I had done anything -- but they didn't like it.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I left the Crescendos on for several months. I finally removed them, because there was general dissatisfaction with the piano. With the original punchings restored, again without telling anyone that I had done anything, there were many compliments about how the touch improved. I thought that one of the functions of the key punchings was to cushion the blows to pianists' fingers, and that without sufficient cushioning, playing will be uncomfortable. I don't think Crescendo punchings provide sufficient cushioning; I suspect that they can make playing uncomfortable for the pianist.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I don't use Crescendo punchings. Sorry.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Kent Swafford</DIV> <DIV><BR><BR> </DIV> <DIV class=gmail_quote>On Feb 5, 2008 6:49 AM, Jon Page <<A href="mailto:jonpage@comcast.net">jonpage@comcast.net</A>> wrote:<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid"> <DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><FONT face=Arial color=#000000>This non-"voicing" voicing is quite intriguing...</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV>In KC I did a test with a small group of techs. Using samples</DIV> <DIV>from Jurgen, we compared the original punching to Crescendo</DIV> <DIV>straight-sided and conical-cut punchings.</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV>The consensus was that the straight cut produced a slightly better</DIV> <DIV>tone than the original and the conical cut punching was better than that.</DIV> <DIV>However when we turned the conical punching over (narrow side on bottom)</DIV> <DIV>the tone diminished.</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV>So the orientation of the conical punching is critical.  Which was why on those</DIV> <DIV>Asian uprights, I could notice a difference playing chromatically. A simple fix :-)</DIV> <DIV>However, conical punchings are not suitable for all verticals either.</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV>On a 3 y/o S&S S which needed the key travel to be increased I recommended</DIV> <DIV>the Crescendo punchings and made a test on C4.  The piano owner was surprised</DIV> <DIV>how much the tone focused when the new punching was installed, "That wavering</DIV> <DIV>went away", she said.  The action felt better too with a more positive landing to the key.</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV>All in a day's work in super-hero-land.</DIV> <DIV><BR>Regards,<BR><BR>Jon Page</DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>