Heavy Hammers / High Ratio / Ric

[Delwin D Fandrich]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ron Nossaman" <RNossaman@cox.net>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: September 25, 2003 12:21 PM
Subject: Re: Heavy Hammers / High Ratio / Ric


>
> > > As pianists we know
> > > that beyond ff, many pianos probably don't produce any more sound.
The
> > > board seems to reach a point where it simply cannot put out anything
more
> > > without the tone becoming distorted--it becomes just more noise.
> >
> >Now I'm getting into an area I've not actually tested, but.... I think
the
> >distortion heard at this point is coming from a hammer gone out of
control.
> >As you approach action saturation the motion of the hammer becomes
> >increasingly erratic -- it ends up flopping all over the place. This can
> >easily be seen using high-speed photography to slow down the hammer's
> >motion so it can be studied in slow motion.
>
> The low soundboard impedance killer octave is a very common example of
the
> pianist overdriving the soundboard into noisy distortion, pretty much
> regardless of the condition of the hammers and action.
>
> Ron N


You may have a point there....

Del