[pianotech] key dip (was gaug) In defense of Andrè

[Richard Brekne]

I thought I might clarify a bit of what Andrè  means by his statement 
that aftertouch is a natural result of a perfect regulation. I suppose 
most of you know this stuff, but I will run through some of the points 
anyways. Many of you know that Andrè is my  good friend and one of my 
most valued mentors through time, so I dare say I have some rather keen 
insights into his thinking. Andrè is from the get go one of the most 
refined concert technicians I have ever had the pleasure to meet, work 
with, and learn from. His reputation in Europe is impeccable and one 
would be foolish indeed to not listen with both ears wide open when he 
talks action <<shop talk>>.

As to his requirement for as exacting a 10 mm key dip as he can get let 
me say the following.  With that as a starting point, and utilizing 
hammer blow distance as the float to acquire general aftertouch degree 
requirements there are a couple other important regulation points that 
typically do not get mentioned when discussing aftertouch. We get 
quickly into what the Japanese refer to as Hataraki....which is a 
closely related concept to aftertouch but by no means the same.

The jacks position at rest, both with regard to the knuckle / rep arm 
and with regard to its rest position (ie parallel with the core of the 
knuckle) and the relationship of letoff to drop (ie how close and in 
which order these two are to being actuated simultaneously) all have a 
perceivable impact on the sensation of aftertouch. One of the Japanese 
<<superstars>> I met... a Mr Takahara was simply amazing in how he could 
quickly alter (positively) the touch sensation of aftertouch just by the 
feel of the key and limiting his adjustments to regulating jack in 
window height and jack rest position. He actually <<floated>> to some 
small degree both these... mostly the jack rest position, to achieve 
what he was after.

My point is... when Andrè states that good (read correct) aftertouch is 
a result of a very fine regulation it is because he is paying very close 
attention to all these points along the way and his resulting aftertouch 
is HIS indicator of how well he has done on that path. And it does 
indeed work very well for him.

For me, I choose another route and also, like many of you get very very 
fine touch results.  There are indeed several ways of skinning a cat.

Cheers
RicB