Odd dimensions of sharps.

[Marcel Carey]

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Michael,
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If G#=3D440, I would think the piano would be 1/2 a step SHARP, not =
flat.
Now if A#=3D440, then it would be flat.
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Marcel Carey,
Sherbrooke, QC

-----Message d'origine-----
De : pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] De la
part de Michael Gamble
Envoy=E9 : 6 octobre 2005 08:19
=C0 : Byeway222@aol.com; pianotech@ptg.org
Objet : RE: Odd dimensions of sharps.



Yes, Richard, I agree with the sharp business. There are many pianos I
simply cannot get my fingers in between them! Height also plays a major
role in this. As for those older pianos, the Brinsmeads in particular I
find extremely good tonally. Even very old uprights with the una-corda
(L) pedal. The strings are remarkable too =96 notice the coppery finish =
on
the lower steel strings =96 not the covered ones =96 I have found they
respond very well indeed to pitch raising =96 even from G#=3D440 !

Regards

Michael G.(UK)

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  _____ =20


From: Byeway222@aol.com [mailto:Byeway222@aol.com]=20
Sent: 06 October 2005 00:00
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Subject: Re: Odd dimensions of sharps.

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Hi Michael and List,

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I had forgotten about those round fronted sharps on Collards  (I think
Brinsmead did them as well).  It's amazing that they went to all the
trouble of cutting the ivory to accommodate them, in fact, tonally most
of those pianos were not worth all the trouble and decent materials
which often went into them.  They all sounded as though they had been
strung with loose knicker elastic.

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However, the subject of sharps and their size and shape has always
interested me as a pianist as well as a technician.  I have always been
conscious of sharps being comfortable or uncomfortable and I think that
pianists often do not realise that one of the many reasons they don't
like the 'feel' of a piano is, in fact the sharps.  I have a very good
and immediate comparison in a college here, where I have a Steinway B
and a Yamaha S6 in the same room.  All the upper end of the market
Yamahas have rather 'chunky' sharps with quite an exaggerated front
bevel. I believe that they are made from some sort of composite material
which resembles wood. The Steinway still has much neater and thinner
sharps which I have now found, from questioning pianists, they prefer.
Oddly, the smaller and cheaper Yamahas have plastic sharps with much
neater ( and in my opinion) more comfortable dimensions.  Over the
years, my recollections of  different keyboards often takes me back to a
really super Knabe grand.  There are very few in UK, but this was a
stunning piano musically, but it had the most incredibly 'short' sharps
I have ever come accross. You felt as though you were going to collide
with the nameboard at any minute.

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It would be interesting to hear other opinions on this whole business of
keyboards and their 'feel' as a result of materials and their size and
shaping.  Just as the recently discussed Wurzen front punchings appear
to be part of a general building up of agreeable feel and tone, so, I
feel this business of keyboard materials, design and finish are also a
very important part of the picture.

=20

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