<!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 6.00.2800.1141" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY> <DIV>We have a couple of pianos with the reduced key set made by David Steinbuhler. The complete keyboard compass is just 41.2" rather than the typical 48".  These keys are necessarily narrower, but they are made from laminated maple.  Since they are narrower the weight is not an issue, and the harder wood makes them wonderfully stiff.  I'm sure we haven't tried all the possibilities for making keys more stable.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>dave<BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********<BR><BR>On 5/3/2003 at 12:20 PM BobDavis88@aol.com wrote:</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid"><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF">John Hartman writes [titled Re: Key Leads and Inertia]:<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px" TYPE="CITE">If you use top <BR>plates you have to be careful they don't interfere with the fall board.<BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>John and others,<BR><BR>I looked at your picture of the added top plates, and have a question. Part of the stiffness comes from the taller beam and part from the species. Would it do any good to rout out part of the top of the key and replace it with a stiffer species, say maple, or would that be insignificant if the key height remained the same? Same goes for shoes.<BR><BR>Bob Davis</FONT><FONT size=2 Arial></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></FONT></BODY></HTML> <PRE> _____________________________ David M. Porritt dporritt@mail.smu.edu Meadows School of the Arts Southern Methodist University Dallas, TX 75275 _____________________________</PRE>