Hamburg vs American S & S

[stanwood]

>As for the touch, I've played "heavy" Hamburgs and frighteningly light NY
>actions with everything in between. A NY action is supposed to be "faster"
>(hence "accelerated") by something like 5-6% than the H., but I have heard
>that European tastes tend to be for slightly lighter actual touch weights,
>which is supposed to be reflected in the Hamburg. The weigh-off data for a
>NY D is:
>
>Down Weight
>1-16    -       51 gm
>17-32   -       50 gm
>33-45   -       49 gm
>46-61   -       48 gm
>62-75   -       47 gm
>76-88   -       46 gm


John,

Down Weight doesn't tell you much about how th piano will feel when played.
It gives an
idea how it will feel in PPPPP mode, because it's measured in the slowly
moving key.

A piano can be on spec in regards to downweight and feel dynamically
anywhere from heavy to light.

To guage dynamic touch the only way I've come up with is to compare strike
weight to strike ratio.




            David C. Stanwood Stanwood@tiac.net
            West Tisbury, Massachusetts     USA
            On the Island of  Martha's Vineyard
        http://www.tiac.net/users/stanwood/first.htm

"The art in hammer making has ever been to obtain a solid,
 firm foundation, graduating in softness and elasticity toward
 the top surface, which latter has to be silky and elastic in
 order to produce a mild, soft tone for pianissimo playing, but
 with sufficient resistace back of it to permit the hard blow of
 fortissimo playing."                 - Alfred Dolge 1911