setting let-off

[Avery Todd]

Ed,

   Would this method be anything similar to "ghosting"? Or is that just a
method to get the let-off very close and then refine it further by
sight/feel?

Avery

>Greetings all,
>     Setting the let off by how far the screw turns is, IMHO, capable of rough
>regulation at best.  Unless all let-off buttons are perfectly level, a
>"quarter turn" is going to mean different things on different buttons.
>     Also, setting let off just below the maximum string excursion zone is a
>good method in the bass and middle of the piano, where hammer mass stores
>enough energy to obviate the miniscule differences that may arise between
>notes.  However,  when the excursion zone shrinks on the higher strings, and
>the hammer size is smaller, setting the let-off to just miss will not always
>leave the most sensitive action.
>    Tolerances must be widened for a piano that does not see constant
>attention, but for the maximum performance on a stage set-up, let-off from
>C-52 on up needs to be set by feel.  That is how it is going to be judged by
>the artist, so it behooves the technicians to develop  a sense of let-off at
>least as sensitive as the performers' they are likely to encounter.
>    The goal is to make escapement as even and transparent as possible, giving
>maximum control.  I do this in the piano by first setting the let-off too high
>and then turning it down as I play the key at ppp.  As the escapement point
>moves down to string height, you will feel the  hammer  begin to let off with
>a slight double note.  You have to be moving the key slow enough so that the
>hammer rebounds onto the top of the jack.  Some have described it as a
>"jackhammer" feel.  If you play a note slowly as you lower the let-off, you
>will pass through this area.  With a little practise, you can begin to feel
>this on extremely soft blows.
>     You want to be able to make the note slightly stutter on the softest note
>you can play and then, turn the let-off button down until the stutter
>disappears.  There is a narrow range between the "trace blocking" and having
>sufficient let-off, but there is one magical point in that range that makes,
>as one artist described it, "it feel like the note is just sitting on the end
>of the key".
>     You don't want a piano like this going out on the road, ( though Ronnie
>Milsap does), but for your home stage, it can do wonders. Also,  once the feel
>is well established, it is easy to maintain.
>Regards,
>Ed Foote