<!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN"> <html><head><style type="text/css"></style><title>Re: Ibach Capstan</title></head><body> <div>At 7:31 PM -0400 7/8/04, Terry Farrell wrote:</div> <div> </div> <blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1">I saw an interesting capstan arrangement on a 1905 Ibach concert grand the other day. I wish I had my digital camera with me......</font></blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1">The key has a stick protruding from the top at the capstan location that is connected to the key with an action center (pin, bushings, etc). The stick is just a half-inch or so long. A capstan with threaded rod protruding from both the bottom and top are screwed into the stick on the bottom and the wippen heel on the top. If you turn the capstan clockwise, it screws into both the wippen heel and the stick, thus bringing the heel closer to the key - turn it counterclockwise and the opposite happens.</font></blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1">Looks like a really neat system where you would get no friction loss at the capstan/wippen heel interface. I wonder how much fun it is to remove the stack?</font></blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1">Anyone see this configuration before? Comments?</font></blockquote> <div><br></div> <div>Hi Terry,</div> <div><br></div> <div>That's a tied action, and they work very well indeed. The only downside, from a modern pianist's perspective, is that the keys being tied to the wippens causes them to bounce a little on their return to rest. This doesn't effect the way the action plays, but its a little off-putting to some pianists.</div> <div><br></div> <div>This action is more difficult to deal with when it comes to removing it from the keyboard. However, the bottom of the prolong is slotted to allow for disengagement with the key prior to removing the stack. To disengage the wippen from the key you just hold the key down while pressing the underside of the wippen upwards. The prolong just un-clips from the lower centre pin. Once all wippens have been disconnected the stack can be removed. They have to be clipped back into place once the stack has been replaced. This also is a bit of a pain, since the prolongs often will need to be positioned correctly before clipping the key and wippen back together.</div> <div><br></div> <div>They're an interesting action, and a much better design than the Bechstein tied action arrangement. I haven't seen an Ibach concert piano. If ever you go back to the piano with your digital camera, I'd be very interested to see some images.</div> <div><br></div> <div>Best,</div> <div>Ron O.</div> <x-sigsep><pre>-- </pre></x-sigsep> <div><font face="Times New Roman" size="+1" color="#0000FF"><b>OVERS PIANOS - SYDNEY</b></font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><i>   </i></font><font color="#0000FF"><i>Grand Piano Manufacturers</i></font><font color="#000000"><br> _______________________</font></div> <div><font size="-2" color="#000000"><br> </font><font color="#000000">Web http://overspianos.com.au</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">mailto:info@overspianos.com.au<br> _______________________</font></div> </body> </html>