[CAUT] why does it feel better?

[Fred Sturm]

Hi Wim,
	I don't want to get into HT/WT versus ET in particular, but I think  
you have to consider the response of a pianist to a piano from a very  
complex, psycho-physical point of view. Say the pianist uses the same  
physical approach, and the piano sounds different. It will "feel  
different" because the feel of what was done has produced a different  
sound. So both voicing and tuning will cause a piano to "feel  
different." Make a bit of sense? It has to do with sensory feedback.  
If, for instance, a pretty light touch produces a relatively "bright"  
sound (due to voicing or unisons being a little off), and then you  
tune the unisons or sugar the crowns, the same light touch is  
producing a less bright sound. "Feels" different. Might be described  
by some as "heavier" (more effort required to produce the same  
sound). Similarly, lacquering hammers might make the piano "feel  
lighter."
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu



On Aug 29, 2006, at 8:44 AM, Willem Blees wrote:

> Many times over the years, I have had customers tell me the piano felt
> better after I tuned it. One of those times was last week.
>
> We have 2 D's in our Concert Hall, one about 25 years old, and the
> other just 4 years old. The new one is not being played much. On the
> advice of Ed Foote, I put a Coleman II on the piano. We had convo on
> Friday, and I brought out both pianos for the piano professor to try
> out. He didn't say anything about the tuning, but he did say the new
> one "felt" better. Another professor also mentioned that the piano
> played better than ever before.
>
> So why does tuning the piano, not just a regular ET tuning, but also a
> historical tuning, make the piano feel different?
>
> Wim
> Willem Blees, RPT
> Piano Tuner/Technician
> School of Music
> University of Alabama
> Tuscaloosa, AL USA
>

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