<!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 6.00.6000.16705" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style"> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=3>David B. Stang wrote:</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=3></FONT> </DIV><FONT size=3>SNIP</FONT></FONT></DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2><FONT size=3> <DIV><BR>> If a perfectly rigid key weighed 1000 pounds overall but were<BR>> balanced to have a certain down-weight, it would behave and feel<BR>> the same as any other rigid key with the same down-weight.<BR></FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV>Interesting idea David,</FONT></DIV></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2>I think you'll get some corrective responses, however.  If you had a 1000kg key and tried to play it <EM>ff</EM>  you would break a finger or two - easily - regardless of downweight specs.  Why?  Inertia is huge in the 1000kg key.  By your definition of mass = inertia, I'd think you would have noticed this.  Very little inertia in a standard key, relative to the 1000kg key, no?  Thus, massive performance differences, well beyond dynamic range.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2>Imagine a 1000kg steel I-Beam, perfectly balanced on a fulcrum.  Downweight would be < one gram.  Try to punch it down.  Then maybe put your foot under one end, and accelerate it to a high velocity and see how your toes make out.  You could do these experiments with a standard key too,  just for anecdotal comparison, but I don't think you need to.  In the case of the beam, your hand and foot will be broken.  I doubt you would suffer any such trauma with the standard key.  </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2>I think you'll be hard pressed to find a piano technician or physicist that would agree that the inertia in a 500kg key = that of a 50g key for example.  Note the difference in mass, and, inertia.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2> <BR><FONT size=3>David also wrote:</FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2><FONT size=3>SNIP:</FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2><FONT size=3></FONT></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2><FONT size=3>>If a perfectly rigid key weighed 1000 pounds overall but were<BR>>balanced to have a certain down-weight, it would behave and feel<BR>>the same as any other rigid key with the same down-weight.</FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2><FONT size=3></FONT></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2>Nothing could be more false.  Things are not as simple as you've suggested.  I hope this doesn't come across poorly, but there are some very important misconceptions in your post, David.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2>William R. Monroe</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style" size=2> </DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>