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<DIV>
<DIV>Greg,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>It is plain to me from the work I did on the Seiler that there is =
a
noticeable difference when the dampers lift later. I did a downweight
check on a few keys, and the difference was around 5-6 grams.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The thing that made me consider doing it at all was this: some pi=
anos
have tricord dampers with fingers that extend far below the level of the
string. This creates a fair amount of friction. It's easy to fin=
d by
pushing the key slowly. Compare keys with over-long tricord dampers to=
keys with blocks. Big difference in feel! It was obvious to me f=
rom
that observation that dampers indeed play a role in key touchweight.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I experimented with a few consecutive dampers before I did the whole pi=
ano,
and did a blind test with two of the store salesmen. I had them t=
ry
two contiguous white keys, one with adjusted lift, and one before
adjustment. We could all feel the difference, especially with pianissi=
mo
playing.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>It may not be the ideal solution for a heavy touchweight, but give=
n
that the piano hadn't been sold yet, I didn't want to do something that=
would have been more difficult to reverse.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Thanks for the input,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Dave Stahl</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>a message dated 7/30/05 12:15:27 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
grahampianos@yahoo.com writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><=
FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=
=2>Does
damper timing impact touch at normal playing<BR>speeds? (We are talk=
ing
about grand pianos here).<BR><BR>My chapter held a lengthy technical last
month on<BR>touchweight. The dampers were lifted by the pedal<BR>whe=
n
using gram weights on the keys to check up and<BR>down weight, thus
eliminating damper weight from the<BR>equations. <BR><BR>Someone ask=
ed
the instructor about the effect of the<BR>dampers. The answer
was:<BR><BR>"The touchweight we feel at normal playing speed is<BR>mostly
inertial, getting the hammer and shank up to<BR>speed. By the time t=
he
key hits the damper<BR>underlever, inertia of the key does the work
of<BR>lifting the dampers, the hammer is moving close to<BR>full speed, th=
e
initial inertial load has dropped, and<BR>you hardly feel the damper at
all." <BR><BR>Inertial effects and "real" touchweight at
playing<BR>speeds are much harder to measure than slow-motion or<BR>static=
weights, so we rely on our sense of touch. I'm<BR>not sensitive enou=
gh
yet to feel small differences, so<BR>I have a hard time proving or disputi=
ng
the claim<BR>above.<BR><BR>In light of our very detailed analysis of the
action<BR>we worked on, hammer weight and key leading are the<BR>first thi=
ngs
to check, and the easiest to change, if<BR>an action is too heavy (assumin=
g
friction and geometry<BR>problems have been ruled out). Dampers didn=
't
make it<BR>to the top ten.<BR><BR>Damper timing does have a significant ef=
fect
on the<BR>ability to play legato or staccato. Early lift makes<BR>it=
easier to play legato. Some jazz pianists prefer a<BR>late lift for =
lots
of separation, articulation, or<BR>"bite". At least that is the opin=
ion
of a few of our<BR>chapter's more senior techs. Sounds reasonable to=
me.<BR><BR><BR>Greg Graham<BR>PTG Associate Member, Lehigh Valley
PA<BR>(written and tech exam passed, tuning yet to
go)<BR><BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>