engineered wood rail (was: What would Steinway do)

[Frank Emerson]

At first glance, what might appear to be a 3-ply key panel, is actually a 7-ply panel.  There may be 3-ply panels out there, but the ones with which  I am familiar are 7-ply, consisting of three thick plies, with veneer laminations between the thicker plies and on the outer faces.  The veneer plies are hardwood, and the thicker plies are softwood, as would typically be used for a solid wood key panel.  The internal veneer plies are cross-grain, and the surface plies are in line with the thicker plies, roughly in the direction of the individual keystick lengths.  These panels make very stable keyboards, even they are in Chinese pianers.  These key panels are often also reinforced with hardwood boots as needed for capstans and/or balance pin holes.

Regarding poorly seasoned key panels, I spent several hours, last week, getting warped keys to work on a solid wood keyboard in a limited edition, brand-new grand piano of one of the most well-known brands out there.  This would not have happened with a laminated panel, but they are to proud of their traditional design to try something new.

Frank Emerson
pianoguru at earthlink.net


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Andrew and Rebeca Anderson 
To: Cy Shuster;Pianotech List
Sent: 3/8/2007 8:18:31 AM 
Subject: Re: engineered wood rail (was: What would Steinway do)


Most laminated keysticks I've seen have been of poorly seasoned soft fibrous wood and only three laminations (Chinese pianers).

Andrew

At 04:38 AM 3/8/2007, you wrote:

Any opinions about laminated keysticks?  Same benefits against warpage; are they too stiff for player comfort?
 
--Cy--
 
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