Steinway regulation

[Jeff Stickney]

List,
	Thank you for your continued discussion of this issue.  When I changed the
regulation to a deeper dip and longer blow (yes, 1 7/8"), I also put
let-off closer than where it had been.  I also like let-off to be as close
as possible, but in my efforts to get the piano back to it's original
"inviting" state, I also undid the close let-off ("generous" might be the
wrong word, but definitely more than 1/16")so that adequate after-touch
could be achieved without cranking the capstans even higher.  I don't think
at this point the aftertouch is excessive, merely what was necessary to
make the pianist happy.  I would invite your ideas of what an acceptable
range of after-touch is - .045-.060?  I believe what attracted the pianist
to this piano (and the way it had been regulated) was "some form of
finesse" (another way of saying "inviting") more than other considerations.
 I went into this knowing that I was trying to fix something that wasn't
broken - a learning experience it has definitely turned out to be.  

 My intent wasn't to
>get into design issues, but just to observe from a practical point of
>view that the likely cause of the annoying problems - repetition being
>iffy and the jack hitting something, maybe the flange - was the excess
>aftertouch, based on what Jeff reported.
>	If the action regulated well with .39 dip and, I assume, about 1 7/8
>blow, as Jeff stated (he didn't say how much blow), then it should
>regulate reasonably well with .375 dip and 1 5/8 to 1 3/4 blow, at least
>in my experience, with the caveat that aftertouch might be less than I'd
>like and check distance might need to be tweaked on the far side. And if
>that's what the customer wants, more power to him (he'll need it to get
>the volume, but maybe he doesn't want volume so much as some form of
>finesse). On the other hand, I find it hard to imagine a pianist wanting
>greater than 1/16 letoff.
>
>Regards,
>Fred Sturm
>University of New Mexico
>
>Jon Page wrote:
>> 
>> If you really want to start analyzing the key stroke, the location of the
>> capstan
>> on the key will determine where the jack will end up at the end of the key
>> stroke
>> with a given dip, hammer length & blow parameters.
>
>
Jeff Stickney, RPT
University of Montana
jpage@selway.umt.edu