Bluthner Patent Action

[Richard Brekne]

All in all a nice job of translating the German to an English that makes 
quite a bit more sense then the thing floating around. Nice job by John 
Delcour with a bit of back and forthing with Jürgen. As far as the 
damper stop rail adjustment is concerned... seems to me that one only 
needs again to look at the basics of any action design to decipher this. 
As with the any action the ratio of the sharp key will be slightly 
different then that of the longer white keys.... I dont recall any 
action in production that really got around this difference.  
Essentially the damper system in the Bluthner needs conceptually to be 
adjusted like any Erard / Herz action. 

Still... this is all very basic directions. Hardly a full description of 
how the Bluthner Patent Action ticks.  Just so.... its a darned football 
field sized bit better then the embarrassingly nonsensical directions 
posted on official, semi official and other sites all over the nett.  
With just a bit of work on the wording this corrected translation should 
be adapted by at least the official sites without further delay. What 
they have now is just .... well ridiculous.

Well done John
RicB

> At 11:06 -0700 26/9/08, Jurgen Goering wrote:
>
> >/  A few more corrections to the translation:
> />/
> />>/Im Gegensatz zur Erard-Mechanik ist bei der Blüthner-Mechanik der 
> />>/Druck fester zu machen (kein Nachdruck). Die Taste wird langsam bis 
> />>/auf das Druckfleckdien gedrückt, und dann muß der Hammer noch 1 mm 
> />>/steigen, bis er auslöst, so daß er nur bei mittelmäßigem Anschlag 
> />>/fängt.
> />>/
> />/The touch of the Blüthner action is not firmer than an Erard action 
> />/at all. It is arguably lighter.  What they are saying is that there 
> />/is no after-touch.
> /
> Yes.  Firm does not mean heavy.  I wondered whether to translate 
> 'fest' by 'tight' rather than 'firm'.  Surely they are talking of the 
> sensation of the touch, which some players might describe as tight 
> and others as firm.
>
> >>/4. The Touch
> />>/The touch of the Blüthner action is firm in comparison with the 
> />>/Herz-Erard action, with no after-touch.  The key should be pressed 
> />>/slowly until it comes to contact with the touch washer, and then 
> />>/the hammer should rise a further 1 millimetre before setting off, 
> />>/so that it only falls into check under a moderate blow.
> /
>
> >>/9. Die Pralleiste für die Dämpfung muß so eingestellt werden, daß 
> />>/bei heruntergedrückter schwarzer Taste der Dämpfer ganz wenig Luft 
> />>/hat.
> />/It says nothing about the ends of the sharp keys. It says that the 
> />/damper up-stop rail must be adjusted so that there is a very small 
> />/gap between it and the  damper (underlever) of a depressed sharp.
> /
> Yes.  What I said makes no sense at all!
>
> >>/9. The damper stop rail must be so adjusted that the felts at the 
> />>/end of the sharp keys almost touch the damper bodies when the 
> />>/dampers are raised.
> /
> but the name of the part is the 'Damper Body'*, so
>
> 9. The damper slap rail must be so adjusted that the damper bodies of 
> the sharp keys when depressed almost touch the slap rail felt.
>
> *Damper Body : The lever which carries the damper stem wire in an 
> upright and the lever to which the damper drop is centred in a grand.
>
>
> JD
>