Pianotech

I have long been amazed to hear how different the same piano sounds under different players' fingers. And its not just the fingers, its pedaling too. 

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

Peter,

A well known pianist and piano professor at a highly reputed music conservatory insists that pitch comes from the fingers and that tonal variation comes from "the feet."

I suggested to the technician at that school that they have six students play the same piece by JS Bach on the same piano in succession, no pedaling allowed. To the best of my knowledge, that idea has yet to gain traction.

Best,

Alan

I have long been amazed to hear how different the same piano sounds under different players' fingers. And its not just the fingers, its pedaling too. 

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

Alan,

Kind of along this line of thought, one of my better playing clients recently asked me if I could adjust the damper pedal on his quite new Kawai grand to be "wetter". I've never had anyone use that specific term before but I ASSUME he's talking about somewhat less efficient dampingas well as more immediate response (little to no lost motion at the pedal).

Have you, or anyone else had a request like this, and how did/would you handle it?

My person 1907 Chickering is quite like this (damping not super efficient with plenty of lagging ring), and I do, in fact, like that feature, though not everyone probably would. 

I have yet to make any adjustments on his piano. This thread caused me to throw this out for a little help.

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

Peter,

A well known pianist and piano professor at a highly reputed music conservatory insists that pitch comes from the fingers and that tonal variation comes from "the feet."

I suggested to the technician at that school that they have six students play the same piece by JS Bach on the same piano in succession, no pedaling allowed. To the best of my knowledge, that idea has yet to gain traction.

Best,

Alan

I have long been amazed to hear how different the same piano sounds under different players' fingers. And its not just the fingers, its pedaling too. 

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

Peter,

If your client's issue is pedal-related, you might want to consider tapering the damper cutoff timing from one end of the scale to the other (with shims on the damper tray). That worked for a client of mine with a similar request.

Best,

Alan

Alan,

Kind of along this line of thought, one of my better playing clients recently asked me if I could adjust the damper pedal on his quite new Kawai grand to be "wetter". I've never had anyone use that specific term before but I ASSUME he's talking about somewhat less efficient dampingas well as more immediate response (little to no lost motion at the pedal).

Have you, or anyone else had a request like this, and how did/would you handle it?

My person 1907 Chickering is quite like this (damping not super efficient with plenty of lagging ring), and I do, in fact, like that feature, though not everyone probably would. 

I have yet to make any adjustments on his piano. This thread caused me to throw this out for a little help.

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

Peter,

A well known pianist and piano professor at a highly reputed music conservatory insists that pitch comes from the fingers and that tonal variation comes from "the feet."

I suggested to the technician at that school that they have six students play the same piece by JS Bach on the same piano in succession, no pedaling allowed. To the best of my knowledge, that idea has yet to gain traction.

Best,

Alan

I have long been amazed to hear how different the same piano sounds under different players' fingers. And its not just the fingers, its pedaling too. 

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

Alan,

That's a good and simple solution. Do you recall which way you tapered it? Curious...

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

Peter,

If your client's issue is pedal-related, you might want to consider tapering the damper cutoff timing from one end of the scale to the other (with shims on the damper tray). That worked for a client of mine with a similar request.

Best,

Alan

Alan,

Kind of along this line of thought, one of my better playing clients recently asked me if I could adjust the damper pedal on his quite new Kawai grand to be "wetter". I've never had anyone use that specific term before but I ASSUME he's talking about somewhat less efficient dampingas well as more immediate response (little to no lost motion at the pedal).

Have you, or anyone else had a request like this, and how did/would you handle it?

My person 1907 Chickering is quite like this (damping not super efficient with plenty of lagging ring), and I do, in fact, like that feature, though not everyone probably would. 

I have yet to make any adjustments on his piano. This thread caused me to throw this out for a little help.

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

Peter,

A well known pianist and piano professor at a highly reputed music conservatory insists that pitch comes from the fingers and that tonal variation comes from "the feet."

I suggested to the technician at that school that they have six students play the same piece by JS Bach on the same piano in succession, no pedaling allowed. To the best of my knowledge, that idea has yet to gain traction.

Best,

Alan

I have long been amazed to hear how different the same piano sounds under different players' fingers. And its not just the fingers, its pedaling too. 

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

Alan,

That's a good and simple solution. Do you recall which way you tapered it? Curious...

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

Peter,

If your client's issue is pedal-related, you might want to consider tapering the damper cutoff timing from one end of the scale to the other (with shims on the damper tray). That worked for a client of mine with a similar request.

Best,

Alan

Alan,

Kind of along this line of thought, one of my better playing clients recently asked me if I could adjust the damper pedal on his quite new Kawai grand to be "wetter". I've never had anyone use that specific term before but I ASSUME he's talking about somewhat less efficient dampingas well as more immediate response (little to no lost motion at the pedal).

Have you, or anyone else had a request like this, and how did/would you handle it?

My person 1907 Chickering is quite like this (damping not super efficient with plenty of lagging ring), and I do, in fact, like that feature, though not everyone probably would. 

I have yet to make any adjustments on his piano. This thread caused me to throw this out for a little help.

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

Peter,

A well known pianist and piano professor at a highly reputed music conservatory insists that pitch comes from the fingers and that tonal variation comes from "the feet."

I suggested to the technician at that school that they have six students play the same piece by JS Bach on the same piano in succession, no pedaling allowed. To the best of my knowledge, that idea has yet to gain traction.

Best,

Alan

I have long been amazed to hear how different the same piano sounds under different players' fingers. And its not just the fingers, its pedaling too. 

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

Mr. Grey,

I think a quite new Kawai has underlever capstans that should make this an easy fix.

Alan,

That's a good and simple solution. Do you recall which way you tapered it? Curious...

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

Peter,

If your client's issue is pedal-related, you might want to consider tapering the damper cutoff timing from one end of the scale to the other (with shims on the damper tray). That worked for a client of mine with a similar request.

Best,

Alan

Alan,

Kind of along this line of thought, one of my better playing clients recently asked me if I could adjust the damper pedal on his quite new Kawai grand to be "wetter". I've never had anyone use that specific term before but I ASSUME he's talking about somewhat less efficient dampingas well as more immediate response (little to no lost motion at the pedal).

Have you, or anyone else had a request like this, and how did/would you handle it?

My person 1907 Chickering is quite like this (damping not super efficient with plenty of lagging ring), and I do, in fact, like that feature, though not everyone probably would. 

I have yet to make any adjustments on his piano. This thread caused me to throw this out for a little help.

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

Peter,

A well known pianist and piano professor at a highly reputed music conservatory insists that pitch comes from the fingers and that tonal variation comes from "the feet."

I suggested to the technician at that school that they have six students play the same piece by JS Bach on the same piano in succession, no pedaling allowed. To the best of my knowledge, that idea has yet to gain traction.

Best,

Alan

I have long been amazed to hear how different the same piano sounds under different players' fingers. And its not just the fingers, its pedaling too. 

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

Mr. Grey,

I think a quite new Kawai has underlever capstans that should make this an easy fix.

Alan,

That's a good and simple solution. Do you recall which way you tapered it? Curious...

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

Peter,

If your client's issue is pedal-related, you might want to consider tapering the damper cutoff timing from one end of the scale to the other (with shims on the damper tray). That worked for a client of mine with a similar request.

Best,

Alan

Alan,

Kind of along this line of thought, one of my better playing clients recently asked me if I could adjust the damper pedal on his quite new Kawai grand to be "wetter". I've never had anyone use that specific term before but I ASSUME he's talking about somewhat less efficient dampingas well as more immediate response (little to no lost motion at the pedal).

Have you, or anyone else had a request like this, and how did/would you handle it?

My person 1907 Chickering is quite like this (damping not super efficient with plenty of lagging ring), and I do, in fact, like that feature, though not everyone probably would. 

I have yet to make any adjustments on his piano. This thread caused me to throw this out for a little help.

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

Peter,

A well known pianist and piano professor at a highly reputed music conservatory insists that pitch comes from the fingers and that tonal variation comes from "the feet."

I suggested to the technician at that school that they have six students play the same piece by JS Bach on the same piano in succession, no pedaling allowed. To the best of my knowledge, that idea has yet to gain traction.

Best,

Alan

I have long been amazed to hear how different the same piano sounds under different players' fingers. And its not just the fingers, its pedaling too. 

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

Peter,

Dry/Wet is a parlance that we see in acoustics and sound engineering, often referring to less/more reverb but in sound engineering it can refer to other sound effects as well.  In acoustics, a dry environment would be something like a well padded recording studio or a carpeted living room whereas a "wet" environment would be something more like a church or cathedral.  In sound engineering, when adding a reverb effect to a sound there is often a "dry/wet" knob (guitar players will see them on their reverb pedals as well).  As you can guess the knob when turned one way will be the completely unaltered sound and turned completely the other way, the direct sound will be completely drowned out by reverb "reflections" (its actually a series of hundreds of copies of the sound delayed and overlapped).  Alan's solution to the problem is the make the pedal behave a bit like the knob so that you can gradually add more and more sympathetically vibrating strings (similar to reverb) to the sound-albeit in a very short portion of the pedal stroke.  I think my interpretation, based on that one word "wetter," would be to reduce lost motion in the pedal so that the dampers engage earlier in the pedal stroke making the sound maximally "wet" sooner.  However, I think having a discussion with the client about what they are after would be prudent because what people say and what they mean can often be different things.  Sometimes I will loosen the lock nut before having the discussion so I can very easily reach under the piano to make a quick adjustment with my hand and give them an A/B comparison.

Mr. Grey,

I think a quite new Kawai has underlever capstans that should make this an easy fix.

Alan,

That's a good and simple solution. Do you recall which way you tapered it? Curious...

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

Peter,

If your client's issue is pedal-related, you might want to consider tapering the damper cutoff timing from one end of the scale to the other (with shims on the damper tray). That worked for a client of mine with a similar request.

Best,

Alan

Alan,

Kind of along this line of thought, one of my better playing clients recently asked me if I could adjust the damper pedal on his quite new Kawai grand to be "wetter". I've never had anyone use that specific term before but I ASSUME he's talking about somewhat less efficient dampingas well as more immediate response (little to no lost motion at the pedal).

Have you, or anyone else had a request like this, and how did/would you handle it?

My person 1907 Chickering is quite like this (damping not super efficient with plenty of lagging ring), and I do, in fact, like that feature, though not everyone probably would. 

I have yet to make any adjustments on his piano. This thread caused me to throw this out for a little help.

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

Peter,

A well known pianist and piano professor at a highly reputed music conservatory insists that pitch comes from the fingers and that tonal variation comes from "the feet."

I suggested to the technician at that school that they have six students play the same piece by JS Bach on the same piano in succession, no pedaling allowed. To the best of my knowledge, that idea has yet to gain traction.

Best,

Alan

I have long been amazed to hear how different the same piano sounds under different players' fingers. And its not just the fingers, its pedaling too. 

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

I should also add that Alan's solution would make "half pedaling" (i.e. riding the threshold between dampers engaged/disengaged) seem more "wet."

Peter,

Dry/Wet is a parlance that we see in acoustics and sound engineering, often referring to less/more reverb but in sound engineering it can refer to other sound effects as well.  In acoustics, a dry environment would be something like a well padded recording studio or a carpeted living room whereas a "wet" environment would be something more like a church or cathedral.  In sound engineering, when adding a reverb effect to a sound there is often a "dry/wet" knob (guitar players will see them on their reverb pedals as well).  As you can guess the knob when turned one way will be the completely unaltered sound and turned completely the other way, the direct sound will be completely drowned out by reverb "reflections" (its actually a series of hundreds of copies of the sound delayed and overlapped).  Alan's solution to the problem is the make the pedal behave a bit like the knob so that you can gradually add more and more sympathetically vibrating strings (similar to reverb) to the sound-albeit in a very short portion of the pedal stroke.  I think my interpretation, based on that one word "wetter," would be to reduce lost motion in the pedal so that the dampers engage earlier in the pedal stroke making the sound maximally "wet" sooner.  However, I think having a discussion with the client about what they are after would be prudent because what people say and what they mean can often be different things.  Sometimes I will loosen the lock nut before having the discussion so I can very easily reach under the piano to make a quick adjustment with my hand and give them an A/B comparison.

Mr. Grey,

I think a quite new Kawai has underlever capstans that should make this an easy fix.

Alan,

That's a good and simple solution. Do you recall which way you tapered it? Curious...

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

Peter,

If your client's issue is pedal-related, you might want to consider tapering the damper cutoff timing from one end of the scale to the other (with shims on the damper tray). That worked for a client of mine with a similar request.

Best,

Alan

Alan,

Kind of along this line of thought, one of my better playing clients recently asked me if I could adjust the damper pedal on his quite new Kawai grand to be "wetter". I've never had anyone use that specific term before but I ASSUME he's talking about somewhat less efficient dampingas well as more immediate response (little to no lost motion at the pedal).

Have you, or anyone else had a request like this, and how did/would you handle it?

My person 1907 Chickering is quite like this (damping not super efficient with plenty of lagging ring), and I do, in fact, like that feature, though not everyone probably would. 

I have yet to make any adjustments on his piano. This thread caused me to throw this out for a little help.

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

Peter,

A well known pianist and piano professor at a highly reputed music conservatory insists that pitch comes from the fingers and that tonal variation comes from "the feet."

I suggested to the technician at that school that they have six students play the same piece by JS Bach on the same piano in succession, no pedaling allowed. To the best of my knowledge, that idea has yet to gain traction.

Best,

Alan

I have long been amazed to hear how different the same piano sounds under different players' fingers. And its not just the fingers, its pedaling too. 

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

Luke,

Your suggestion is simpler and quicker than Jon Page's suggestion that I conveyed. Your thought, therefore, will be my first go-to measure when I next encounter a pianist making a request along these lines.

Love it!

Alan

I should also add that Alan's solution would make "half pedaling" (i.e. riding the threshold between dampers engaged/disengaged) seem more "wet."

Peter,

Dry/Wet is a parlance that we see in acoustics and sound engineering, often referring to less/more reverb but in sound engineering it can refer to other sound effects as well.  In acoustics, a dry environment would be something like a well padded recording studio or a carpeted living room whereas a "wet" environment would be something more like a church or cathedral.  In sound engineering, when adding a reverb effect to a sound there is often a "dry/wet" knob (guitar players will see them on their reverb pedals as well).  As you can guess the knob when turned one way will be the completely unaltered sound and turned completely the other way, the direct sound will be completely drowned out by reverb "reflections" (its actually a series of hundreds of copies of the sound delayed and overlapped).  Alan's solution to the problem is the make the pedal behave a bit like the knob so that you can gradually add more and more sympathetically vibrating strings (similar to reverb) to the sound-albeit in a very short portion of the pedal stroke.  I think my interpretation, based on that one word "wetter," would be to reduce lost motion in the pedal so that the dampers engage earlier in the pedal stroke making the sound maximally "wet" sooner.  However, I think having a discussion with the client about what they are after would be prudent because what people say and what they mean can often be different things.  Sometimes I will loosen the lock nut before having the discussion so I can very easily reach under the piano to make a quick adjustment with my hand and give them an A/B comparison.

Mr. Grey,

I think a quite new Kawai has underlever capstans that should make this an easy fix.

Alan,

That's a good and simple solution. Do you recall which way you tapered it? Curious...

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

Peter,

If your client's issue is pedal-related, you might want to consider tapering the damper cutoff timing from one end of the scale to the other (with shims on the damper tray). That worked for a client of mine with a similar request.

Best,

Alan

Alan,

Kind of along this line of thought, one of my better playing clients recently asked me if I could adjust the damper pedal on his quite new Kawai grand to be "wetter". I've never had anyone use that specific term before but I ASSUME he's talking about somewhat less efficient dampingas well as more immediate response (little to no lost motion at the pedal).

Have you, or anyone else had a request like this, and how did/would you handle it?

My person 1907 Chickering is quite like this (damping not super efficient with plenty of lagging ring), and I do, in fact, like that feature, though not everyone probably would. 

I have yet to make any adjustments on his piano. This thread caused me to throw this out for a little help.

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

Peter,

A well known pianist and piano professor at a highly reputed music conservatory insists that pitch comes from the fingers and that tonal variation comes from "the feet."

I suggested to the technician at that school that they have six students play the same piece by JS Bach on the same piano in succession, no pedaling allowed. To the best of my knowledge, that idea has yet to gain traction.

Best,

Alan

I have long been amazed to hear how different the same piano sounds under different players' fingers. And its not just the fingers, its pedaling too. 

Peter Grey Piano Doctor