Keydip: METHOD(long)

[A440A@AOL.COM]

 rogerio writes:
>What is the method "key deep by aftertouch priority method"?
 
Greetings,      
     This is a method of setting keydip by aftertouch.  It allows the 
physical distance the key actually moves to vary slightly, but produces the 
same amount of aftertouch on each. 
    For all but the most "picky of the picky", here is how I determine the 
key dip. 
After the let-off and the hammer blow are determined and set,  I place a 
cardboard punching of the desired thickness* over the front felt punching. (I 
usually use new front felt punchings on full regulations).  Then I adjust the 
key dip until the jack will just barely escape from under the knuckle with 
the key pressed** all the way down.  Removing the punching then allows that 
distance to be felt as "aftertouch". 

   * .050 is usually the maximum, but different customers, and different 
actions can cause this to vary between .030" to .060".  I can't give a 
specific measurment here because  if there is a short ratio in the key, 
(giving a lot of leverage to the key, but little travel at the capstan),  I 
will use less aftertouch to keep the keydip to a minimum, which on some of 
the sixties era Steinways will still approach .400" and sometimes more. 
      If there is a long ratio,  with all the effort is done in a shorter 
space, and I will allow more aftertouch to keep the keydip from being too 
shallow, but excessive aftertouch on these "long" actions seems to be felt by 
pianists as vagueness, and I get comments like "I don't really know where the 
bottom is", so I will usually allow the keydip to be shallower on them.   The 
demands of either of these extreme key ratios can be ameliorated by 
hammerblow changes, but you can only go so far down before hitting the rest 
felts, and if you go up too far, you will risk catastropic repetition failure.
   Different pianists like different amounts of aftertouch, but they all seem 
to like it consistant. 
     I can't take credit for the above procedure, Chris Robinson demonstrated 
it at the New Orleans convention some years ago, and when I took it home and 
redid a few actions for my "critique" customers, they raved about a new sense 
of consistancy.  
 
     (obsessive/compulsives will appreciate the following!)
If I am regulating for the "absolute-ever-and-ever-closest-in-the-world-amen" 
target, I start with as close of a measured keydip as possible,(key level 
must also be as perfect as possible), then adjust dip as above.  However,  I 
will have put a blue paper punching under all the front felts before I start, 
and if I need to take more than this out to get the aftertouch even,  I will 
slightly raise the hammer instead.  Conversely, if I need to add more than 
the blue to my already linearly measured keydip, I will lower the hammer 
until the jack skips out.  This splits the differences between the two 
parameters, and even though the hammer line will look slightly ragged, the 
feel of the evenness is improved. (This is a lot more work for something that 
very few will be able to detect, but it does, imho, give the ultimate in 
feel). 
   **What this procedure depends on is the ability to press the keys with the 
same amount of force while watching for escapement. (eye-balling the 
jack?(:)}}).  So, the final decision is determined by the sense of touch, and 
it is amazing how close the sense can be honed with a little practise. After 
all, that is the way the pianist is going to measure your results.  
     If you desire, a thicker punching with heavier pressure will yield more 
consistant results than a thin one with very light pressure,  but that is a 
decision that the individual technician will have to arrive at for their own 
work.  I usually determine what punching to use by just blindly regulating a 
keydip from the playing position, and then finding what thickness gives me 
that aftertouch when I get down to eyelevel for the rest of them.  
    It does take a little practise, but if it was easy, everybody would be 
doing it! 
Regards, 
Ed Foote 
Precision Piano Works
Nashville, Tn.