Nice to hear from you Floyd and thanks for the positive feedback. It means a lot to me. I'm compelled to deviate from the subject of this thread regarding your comment on light hammers because I'm sure you are dealing with concert hall pianos in your work. Yes, lightening hammers lowers inertia. So does lowering action ratio. Back in the late 1980s I went down the light hammer road with soft cold pressed sets from Ronsen that produced beautiful tone but I found with experience that they didn't hack it in concert situations, especially with ensembles. The light hammer pianos tend to recede into the back ground with the other instrument and aren't heard as well in the back row. I've learned that concert hall hammer weights require the ratio level to be as low as possible so as to accommodate the constrains of normal dip/blow. This means using a knuckle that is 17mm out from the center pin, and possibly moving capstan lines, modifying the balance pivot point or redesigning the balance rail position with a new key set. Ideal arc geometry is important. Actions with the best balance of spread and elevations use less dip and allow more blow for a given ratio level. All this all to allow for use of Concert Hall weight hammers without heavy action. Concert hall zone includes reference scales #9 - #13 which need a dense hammer felt that holds good tension in the felt as contrasted with lighter hammers need to be much softer for ideal tone.
Back to the subject of the thread regarding the touch design selection guide: Good rule of thumb parameters for a concert hall piano would be SW#10 with a ratio/geometry set up to produce a BW38 with FW#8.
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David Stanwood
stanwoodpiano.com
stanwood@tiac.net508-693-1583
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Original Message:
Sent: 11-29-2024 11:09
From: Floyd Gadd
Subject: Touch Design Selection Guide article in EuroPiano Journal
Thank you, David, for your ongoing commitment to putting useful tools into the hands of your fellow piano technicians.
Your take on inertial playing quality, outlined in the October 2023 Journal, has given me a most welcome frame of reference. I have printed off the charts from the article, and am keeping them within arm's reach. I have been revisiting a number of instruments here in our university collection, pushing them from the Firm range and beyond in the direction of Medium, as outlined on the Touch Design Selection Guide. This has been most welcomed by our piano instructor, as fatigue issues had been emerging with undergrad students playing longer programmes. A move in the direction of lighter hammer weight has had some very positive effects in the voicing of the instruments in play.
I was introduced to your approach when I arrived at this job twelve years ago and found your Touch Design Tool Kit waiting for me in the workshop. Early attempts at grasping the principles involved in your approach to touch design were met with some success, but your more recent presentations and articles have helped me put the pieces together in a significantly more helpful way. I consider the projects undertaken in this calendar year to represent my best work in enhancing the playability of grand piano actions in our collection
Thank you again for giving us so much to work with.
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Floyd Gadd RPT
Regina SK
(306) 502-9103
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