Aftertouch

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Jon writes:

<< Id say on average, I find that spongy feel in may 2 or 3 notes per  
handful of pianos, but mostly in Steinways...curiously. Anyway, as I mentioned, I 
found that slightly increasing the depth has helped when nothing else has.>>

Inre aftertouch, increasing depth has much the same effect as raising hammer 
height.  
     I believe that your occasional mushy note on a Steinway is due to 
manufacturing tolerances being so poorly controlled.  Variables in these actions are 
due to the placement of the balance pin and/or capstan, the whimsical 
consistancy of the cove cuts on the flanges, poorly drilled action rails, knuckle 
placement and dimesions that are often no more than distantly related to their 
neighbors, keys with binding balance mortices, and all the other things that 
make this the "standard" piano of the world.  
   If you are setting dip by direct measurement of the key depression, you 
also will have any key height variances added to the overall effect.  
      I set dip by aftertouch priority method, and whereas the typical 
Yamaha, Kawai, Bose, Bech, etc. piano will have virtually the same key dip for 
identical aftertouch, the Steinways are all over the place.  That is why on high 
level Steinway regulation, I find that the best feel comes when the 
inconsistancies are split between keydip and hammer blow.  I allow a .008" variation in 
key dip before I raise or lower the hammer to achieve the same aftertouch.  This 
leaves a hammer line and keydip that is slightly irregular, but an extemely 
close aftertouch consistancy.  Artists are able to judge the consistancy of 
aftertouch a hell of a lot closer than they are to the actual amount of key 
travel, and their reaction to an aftertouch priority regulation has supported this. 
 
Regards, 



Ed Foote RPT 
http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html