WEIGHING OFF THE GRAND ACTION - Part 4
Pragmatics: We weighoff a key to help its note function properly. With good geometry, good regulation, and appropriate friction in place, key balancing fine tunes how well a note will...
Christopher Brown |
Chris Brown RPT
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A Baldwin R Tells Me What to Do
Last week I regulated a Baldwin R baby grand, vintage 1950, which featured five interesting points in an apparently standard-issue regulation. 1. Hidden studs, including the two outside ones –...
Christopher Brown |
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Weighing Off the Grand Action - Part 3A
Regulation Strategy Review: A well-executed weighoff hones good grand regulating to exceed customer expectations. And the Grandwork System provides a weighoff-worthy regulation every time, with much of the work (including...
Christopher Brown |
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WEIGHING OFF THE GRAND ACTION – Part 3
Method and Style: I recommend the pick-and-add method of weighoff. Key balancing weights are used in pairs, upweight on the bottom, pairing weight on top. Add a pair (downweight) to...
Christopher Brown |
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WEIGHING OFF THE GRAND ACTION – Part 2
My Strategy I only weigh off well-regulated actions. The objectives of weighoff are balance and consistency and erratic or inappropriate elements in regulation, including those of friction, inertia, and geometry,...
Christopher Brown |
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WEIGHING OFF THE GRAND ACTION – Part 1
Longer, heavier gauge piano strings need larger, heavier hammers to sound good and have sufficient power. Shorter, lighter gauge strings need smaller, lighter hammers. To make the full range player-friendly,...
Christopher Brown |
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Grand Regulation: Letoff, Segue, and Drop - Part 1
Music History quiz: What is the single most notable feature in a modern grand action? If we answer “double escapement”, then as piano historians we can high five. But as...
Chris Brown RPT |
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Grand Regulation: Key Dip - Part 3
One role key dip should not play in a grand regulation is Keyframe Transfer Gauge. Dip as Articulator and dip as Mediator work effectively on behalf of piano player enjoyment. With a...
Christopher Brown |
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Grand Regulation: Key Dip - Part 2
Key dip, the Articulator, specifies a note’s depth of stroke and resulting hammer rise. Along with blow distance, letoff, and other geometry, it fine-tunes aftertouch, the follow-through needed for good and...
Chris Brown RPT |
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Grand Regulation: Key Dip - Part 1
About five years into my becoming a piano technician, my teacher flipped me a job, a fund-raiser at a well-known museum featuring a 19th century German upright from its collection....
Christopher Brown |
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Prepare Well and Pay Attention
I have what might seem an odd first step suggestion for grand regulating: Pre-lift wire. This is a strategy to end up with no underlifted strings. When a piano is...
Chris Brown RPT |
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Relationship of Aftertouch to Backchecking
Q. Thoughts on aftertouch affecting checking? A. Aftertouch directly affects backchecking. If we define aftertouch as key travel after letoff, this can translate to backcheck travel after letoff, since the...
Christopher Brown |
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What is Aftertouch?
Another question from one of my videos on the chrisbrownrpt YouTube channel - Settle Compressibles and Refine (Jan. 2, 2013) Q. How does aftertouch correlate to let-off? Is it simply the...
Christopher Brown |
