[CAUT] Piano Response or how heavy the action is.

wimblees at aol.com wimblees at aol.com
Fri Jun 12 13:41:28 MDT 2009


Ric

What you describe is basically what a lot of "normal" piano players?say after I get done just tuning an "ordinary" piano. Many exclaim that the piano feels much better to them, when?I've not done anything to the action. 


Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT
Piano Tuner/Technician
Mililani, Oahu, HI
808-349-2943
Author of: 
The Business of Piano Tuning
available from Potter Press
www.pianotuning.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Brekne <ricb at pianostemmer.no>
To: caut at ptg.org
Sent: Fri, 12 Jun 2009 6:16 am
Subject: [CAUT] Piano Response or how heavy the action is.


Hi all?
?
I've used this last school year to pay very close attention to what various pianists mean by "the piano is heavy" or "it is light"... i.e. what usually most of us would think in terms of physical weight of the action and have come to the conclusion that the greatest majority of pianists simply are not concerned with, and perhaps not even significantly affected by (at least directly) physical weight concerns. For them it is simply a matter of what they hear in response to how much energy they use to play. They also seem to for the most part base their appreciation (positive and negative) for a piano based on whether they like a very responsive instrument or one that requires more effort to drive into brilliance. It seems like only when they get into issues of repetition and the like are they concerned with things that touch on the actions physical properties.?
?
Case in point... we've a CFIII that has specified 59-57 grams downweight and a minimum of 25 grams upweight by the factory compared to a S&S D that is 50-47. Now thats a chunky difference really. Yet the Yamaha, which was allowed to get bright, overly bright really has been described by every single pianist this year as being much lighter then the S&S. The S&S is simply darker voiced... and really not allllll that much so. Friction issues have been purposely addressed on both to isolate that from the situation.?
?
I have no doubt that despite this very precise balancing and evening out of action weights and key to key ratio can and does play a very significant role in how the pianist overall perceives (positive or negative) the piano, but in the end... it is the voicing of the instrument that is the key to the pianists sensation of whether the instrument is "good" or "bad", and most certainly whether the instrument is heavy or light. Real physical impedance only indirectly affects this perception.?
?
Cheers?
RicB?

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