---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment The operation itself and the responses to my post have certainly proved instructive. Thanks to everyone who has offered opinions and information. While I noticed very little of the negative effects Ed or David described, I am not by any stretch a concert level pianist. I would be curious to see what someone who really knows how to play would say about the feel and response. And as a clarification, the reason I did the work on the second piano was because the owner had tried the first one and wanted hers to feel the same way! Dean's post just below offers an interesting point. <<Just a little clarification, work=force X distance. It is the force required to move the mass of the damper lever that causes work to be done. This force would of course be greater on the planet Jupiter. ;-) It seems to me that also entering the equation is the amount of inertial energy of the entire system. If the damper lever is contacted earlier in the keystroke the system is moving slower and has less inertial energy. If it contacts later the velocity is also greater at that point and so is the inertial energy. With the greater inertial energy any force the system encounters like the damper lever becomes less consequential. Consider a 4x4 post in the ground being hit by a car. If the car is only going 5 mph it will probably stop the car with a pretty good jolt. If the car is going 150 mph you won't even feel it. Dean Dean May cell 812.239.3359 PianoRebuilders.com 812.235.5272 Terre Haute IN 47802 >> In a message dated 1/19/2006 6:37:29 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, davidlovepianos@comcast.net writes: I agree with Ed here. While it will change the amount of weight at the point at which the damper lever is engaged (not before and not with the damper pedal employed) the question is whether it's desirable. In addition to the greater difficulty in legato playing, the pianist will sense a loss of tonal control at the other end of tone production that we sometimes forget about which is the timing of the shut off. A too rapid shutoff when the finger starts to lift makes the piano feel choked and will actually change the pianists ability to relax the hand immediately after the stroke which can have a negative impact on tone control by changing the fluid and flexible feeling in the wrist. In other words, it can force an unnatural technique. Wouldn't do it. David Love davidlovepianos@comcast.net -----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of A440A@aol.com Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2006 3:19 AM To: pianotech@ptg.org Subject: Re: Lightening touch by changing damper timing redux David writes: << I've read opinions about this where some techs say that changing damper timing "doesn't really lighten the touch, it only gives that perception." As a piano player, the difference was quite noticeable in terms of weight and control. As a tech, I noticed a five gram difference when I measured it. The best two features of this operation? 1). It works 2). It's easily reversible. >> Greetings, Yes, the later damper lift reduces the effort the pianist must apply to the action, however, it is only effective when the pedal is not depressed. The worst feature of this operation is that it becomes virtually impossible to play legato on a piano like this and the overall sonority goes down. In dealing with pianists that have encountered such an action set-up, I have had complaints that the piano sounds brittle and shallow. Regards, Ed Foote RPT http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html Dave Stahl Dave Stahl Piano Service 650-224-3560 _http://dstahlpiano.net/_ (http://www.dstahlpiano.net/) ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/de/ea/07/d2/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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