Key Excursion

[Ron Nossaman]

> Interesting that you should bring this up as I have a customer recently who
> claims that his 9' piano has too much inclination and wants it altered.  It
> has made me begin to think about what the optimum inclination might be.  It
> will vary from piano to piano and with key length, of course.  The piano
> itself will limit the kinds of changes one can make.  For example, by the
> height of the fall board when in the up position, the thickness of the
> keyframe at both the back and the front, convergence limits, height of the
> wippen cushion over the key/capstan position, damper timing consideration,
> etc.. It seems like the key certainly has to start with an upward
> inclination.  Whether it travels through level and finishes with a downward
> inclination or finishes at level and then to what degree seems to be the
> question.  Wish I had an answer as I will be having to try and figure out
> just what the best solution is for this person fairly soon.  
> 
> David Love


Isn't that what adjustable height benches are for? Perhaps the 
warped can be otherwise inclined, with an elevation adjustment 
and an introduction to the basics of geometric reality. Most 
of it was nailed down within pretty narrow limits on the 
drawing board before the thing was even built. I really don't 
see much potential for this sort of modification, especially 
in a piano with long key sticks, other than in repainting the 
fantasies of the owner. As you note, there are real limits to 
what you can physically do to meet the arbitrary wishes of the 
customer. The rest is pretty much glandular massage. It's a 
bummer, I know, but some of the people out there have never 
had anyone tell them the truth about anything at all, and 
aren't equipped to process it. Still, it's worth a try.

I do wonder, with someone concerned about key inclination, how 
the placement of the pedals relative to their finger position 
on the key tops, and bench height, corresponds to their body 
proportions. Seems to me that it has to be geometrically 
related, and a change in seating height might just make the 
subjective difference. You don't have to "fix" the inclination 
if you can modify the impression that it needs fixed.

Unofficial Monday night musings,
Ron N