Grand piano design - parallel vs angled strike line?

[Clark]

Hi,

Wait - aren't the bass keys shortest?! ;)

Here's some more questions. Our Chickering 77 (1886 - 2.8m) has
foreshortened treble keys, and as I recall with some small compensation
to action geometry, albeit different than your natural/sharp, and now
bass/treble capstan/heel designs. (It has a Brown action.)

This might tie in with Terry Farrel's recent inquiry ("The Meaning of
Key Length"). Several contributors mentioned touch resolution, where
shorter keys exhibit more noticeable differences along the playing
surfaces; crisper treble feel might be one effect, with heavier touch
but less dip farther in than 10-15mm. (This might compensate for a lack
of dampers - but then damper travel may be increased for the shorter
keys, and which might be another intersection to benefit from closer
attention.)

I wonder if cost isn't a factor - an angled strike line seems as if it
would require less iron for plate webbing, while enabling a smaller
wrest plank (maybe even a narrower soundboard panel). Anyways, if the
design accommodates this feature, the bridge need not change curve so
radically toward the treble (remember the raucous Malmsjö Banana piano?
<http://www.musikmuseet.se/samlingar/banan.html>), and the bentside can
be less bent (tho' more space between hitch pins usually isn't necessary
with plates, bridge pin grouping might benefit). Also, bridge and plank
grain angles can be a little closer, with ribs more perpendicular to
either (potentially more tightly spaced, longer).

Well, Spruce boards in effect are "the way it's always been done, so
that's the way we build 'em." I see cracks starting around the bridge
dogleg more often than at the stretcher.


Today I am richer one year...but the world is poorer one Derby, CT
upright...


Clark