Yamaha Silent Piano

[Jim]

Dear Charles:

Voicing is the best answer to this kind of situation.  Notice, I did
not say problem.  If one is concerned about control on soft playing,
which is obviously the case here, Voicing the tone power down gives
the pianist much more control in pianissimo playing.  If you do this
with the customers permission, you will not need to bring up the
regulation limitation.  You will become the hero, she will thank you,
and Yamaha will thank you (I think).

Pianos which use the typical european hammer butts with spring attached
usually cannot have let-off any closer than 4 or 5 mm for fear of
blubbering on soft blows anyway, especially when the flange bushing
resistance is a little low.  The additional amount of increased let-off
is not that much in this perspective.

Jim Coleman, Sr.

On Mon, 6 Jan 1997 c_farinella@conknet.com wrote:

> Recently I was called to service a Yamaha Silent Piano, and when I asked
> if the woman had had any problems with the piano, she mentioned that she
> found that it missed notes on a soft blow, and she didn't feel that she
> had the control she might like.
>
> These pianos are apparently intended to have a letoff distance of 6-8 mm
> (1/4 inch or so), in order to allow the silent function to operate
> correctly.  This obviously will create the problems this woman has,
> without leaving me any way to correct it.
>
> If I tell her that the piano is not capable of being properly regulated,
> neither she, the dealer, or Yamaha will be very happy, yet that seems to
> be the bottom line here.  It seems to me that if there is a performance
> issue related to this "silent" thing, it would be better to tell the
> customer up front of the trade offs involved, rather than wait for a
> problem to develop.
>
> Has anyone had this situation arise?  Suggestions?
>
>
>
> Charles Farinella, RPT
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> c_farinella@conknet.com
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>
>