<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html> Actually John,,, David has a setup for dealing with damper weights as well. It seems more absurd to me to continue to let random weighting reign when it is so easy to avoid, and so obviously creates a very noticible improvement. I see nothing in Stephens articles or thinking so far that conflicts with Stanwoods ideas, rather they seem to be an attempt to make a rather large step further in the same basic direction. There should be no question that evening out Strike Weights, and utilizing formula based appropriate Front weights will have a positive affect on the general eveness of the feel of the action. If one in addition pays attention to location of these front weights then this is going down that same path on which Stephen is moving. Davids pattern leading system does just that as it evenly distributes the mass neccessary to achieve a desired Front Weight at a specified and uniform point on every key. Evening out Damper weights after this is just another logical step to take. To say that all this is a waste because the dampers themselves are uneven seems to be the reverse of where we want to go. Rather it would point in the direction of takeing the neccessary steps to even those weights out as well, and after the action is configured. The fact that pianists utilize the whole surface of the key does not detract from the value of static balancing ala Stanwood in my view. On the contrary, the predictability of an action configured thus allows pianists to better exploit an enhanced transparency this predictability imparts to the action. MV RicB John Hartman wrote: <blockquote TYPE=CITE>Stephen Birkett wrote: > > One factor that does have a serious impact on all of this is the mass of > the dampers, all the more so because it is relatively far away from the > fulcrum. These do seem to be treated in rather cavalier fashion in > discussions of key balancing [it never seems to be made explicitly clear > whether the dampers are on or off when doing measurements, like a balck > sheep relative in jail who never gets mentioned in polite company]. The > *inertial* effects of dampers being lifted vs pedal up are certainly > quite significant. Again you can feel this in playing. Why do you > suppose most modern pianists habitually keep the pedal down? Hmmmm. Stephen, Thanks for bringing this up, it's another reason to be suspicious of the benefits of precision static calibration. It strikes me as absurd to worry about small discrepancies in static balance weight from note to note with the damper action disconnected. This means that all of the effort taken to get the action even is wasted if the pianist plays with the pedal down. Another thing that is usually disregarded is the fact that the front arm of the key is a variable target. For convenience we measure the key input out near the end were we use our weights to measure down and up weights. This is not how the piano is played - the whole exposed surfaces of the keys are used. What does this do to a carefully calibrated action's balance and leverage? What we need to do is convince pianist to firmly press the right pedal and keep it down while playing. In addition they should keep the tips of there fingers precisely 9 mm from the ends of the keys. This is the only way that pianist can experience the full benefits of a precision balanced action. Oh, I forgot, they should only play very softly. John Hartman RPT John Hartman Pianos [link redacted at request of site owner - Jul 25, 2015] Rebuilding Steinway and Mason & Hamlin Grand Pianos Since 1979 Piano Technicians Journal Journal Illustrator/Contributing Editor [link redacted at request of site owner - Jul 25, 2015] _______________________________________________ pianotech list info: <a href="https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives">https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives</a></blockquote> -- Richard Brekne RPT, N.P.T.F. UiB, Bergen, Norway <A HREF="mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no">mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no</A> <A HREF="http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html">http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html</A> <A HREF="http://www.hf.uib.no/grieg/personer/cv_RB.html">http://www.hf.uib.no/grieg/personer/cv_RB.html</A>  </html>