Chipped keys

[Jerry Cohen]

If the front of the keys have been filed off, that leaves sharp, rather than
round corners at the front of each key.

If you have small hands and try to play a large interval, you tend to play
at the front of the key, in order to avoid striking the adjacent key. You
often glance the corner of the adjacent key, and if it is sharp, you can
easily cut the skin. 

 

Pianists with large hands have the same problem, but only when playing even
larger intervals. IOW, the percentage is reduced with larger hands.

 

For this reason, I think grinding down the fronts makes the piano
unplayable, and should never be done.

 

Jerry Cohen, RPT

NJ Chapter

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of William R. Monroe
Sent: Friday, March 16, 2007 4:40 PM
To: Pianotech List
Subject: Re: Chipped keys

 

Hi Alan,

 

I'll have to think about it a bit, to be specific, but I was paying
attention to it a bit as I tuned (and later played) today.  It really does
make a difference when the keys are shorter.  I'm not sure if moving the
hands 1/16" closer to the fallboard, sharps, whatever is the reason, or not.
I do know that I have to play off the front of the keys for octaves, and
without the lip, I have much more trouble hitting the octave cleanly.  I
would assume that the principle would apply whether you have small hands or
not.  Just my musings.  I do know that the change is very perceptible to me,
not just a little correction.

 

Best,

William R. Monroe


 

Hi William,
 
Please be patient with me on this one, but I have not been able to visualize

why making the naturals effectively shorter would put players with smaller 
hands at a disadvantage.  Kindly elucidate.
 
Thanks,
 
Alan Eder

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