Practical Concert Work

[Richard Brekne]

BobDavis88@aol.com wrote:

>
> Dean May writes:
>
>     The Kawai Shigeru Master Tech said the diameter of the string is a
>     good
>     guide for letoff. And he said nearly no drop.
>
> Another "rule of thumb" I have heard is twice the diameter of the 
> core. This amounts to 1.5 mm tapering to 2 mm on the plain wire as you 
> go down, and about 2.5 mm in the bass (safety factor to stay out of 
> the way of the string's greater excursion). This is unnecessarily long 
> on many pianos, but one diameter is unsafely short on others.

This ends up being what regulate at.  And really, I have never found 
1.5-2 mm to be anything close to a hairline trigger regulation. Quite 
the opposite really, I have always thought this to be a very safe 
distance.  3 mm however seems like a canyon. 

I wonder about soft levels of play with heavier hammers and different 
degrees of friction in an action. I know several pianists that like me 
to push letoff very close simply because they cannot get the hammer to 
actually contact the strings at very soft levels of play with deep 
letoff... they move right through letoff and drop and only feel the 
actions <<bumb>>, but get no sound.

Ok... so nothings perfect :)... there is always a tradeoff. Great 
discussion so far... and I'm glad for it. 

3 mm letoff was the big head scratcher for me when I first posted the 
thread. I still question the need for such distance. That said, I rather 
agree with the more general comments that go to playing it safe rather 
then pushing the limits, at least to a point.

>  
> I don't worry too much about the actual letoff measurement. Too close 
> and it's unreliable, too far away and it's insensitive; /but it's not 
> the same piano to piano/. Each action seems to have a sweet spot where 
> it works best, and in addition it seems as if there's a small range 
> within which you really CAN'T tell the difference. For instance, maybe 
> it works equally well between 1 and 1.5 mm, but inside 1 
> blubbers occasionally, and at 2 is beginning to feel unreliable at 
> pianissimo. Then it's a judgment call which end of the risk you want 
> to take, depending upon who's playing what, the condition of the 
> regulating button felt and especially the knuckles, and your knowledge 
> of the instrument's nature.

This more or less describes my working definition of  a <<safe>> regulation.

>  
> Further, whether you want to have the jack and the balancier "shelf" 
> together also depends upon the artist. You can make a difference in 
> the feel (and perception of controllability) by changing the timing. I 
> have had them prefer the balancier to hit a little earlier for a 
> slightly spongier, more resistant landing, and it's not hard to 
> accommodate. Conversely, having the jack tender touch slightly 
> early makes for a softer feel, as the weight of the shank stays on the 
> balancier longer. Even though this requires longer letoff, some 
> artists find it more controllable at pp.


Nice point and nicely put Bob.

>  
> Bob Davis

Cheers RicB