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Quiet Keys™
Piano Owners often ask for a way to quiet down their pianos so they can play late at night without
disturbing others. Many old uprights and some new vertical piano
models have a mute ("practice") pedal. One can also spend thousands
of dollars to convert one's piano into a MIDI (hybrid
acoustic/digital) piano, which can be played silently and listened
to through headphones (see "Electronic Player Pianos", Chapter 4).
Less complicated and certainly less expensive is Quiet Keys™,
the universal mute for vertical pianos, which can be installed into
just about any vertical. Until recently, most retrofit mute
mechanisms have been difficult to install and even more difficult to
remove to allow the piano to be serviced. Quiet Keys™, however,
installs by slipping right over the tuning pins, which are, of
course, standardized from piano to piano. Removal and installation
take a matter of seconds, and the unit adjusts to fit any vertical
piano. A cable connects to an on/off lever placed beneath the keybed.
When "on", a piece of acrylic felt is lowered between hammers and
strings for nearly eighty percent reduction in sound volume. The
cost, including installation by a technician, should be around $100,
though the pictorial instructions are written for the
do-it-yourselfer. Scissors, screwdriver, and wire cutters are the
only tools needed. www.pppkeys.com.
The Stanwood Precision TouchDesign™ System
Pianists agree that piano actions vary widely in their
characteristic feel and in the way they respond. Of course,
regulation of the action and tone of the instrument have a
significant effect on what the pianist experiences. But there exist
more basic underlying elements in piano action design that no amount
of regulation or voicing can change. This fact becomes most evident
when attempting to correct the feel of a piano with unusually heavy
action that "plays like a truck."
Research and study of piano actions carried out by David C.
Stanwood has shed a whole new light on the subject of piano action
design and has led to the development of Stanwood Precision
TouchDesign™ for the grand piano action. Stanwood's system is known
to improve even the finest pianos, so if your piano plays like a
truck, the transformation is likely to be miraculous.
The Stanwood Precision TouchDesign™ system is installed in the
piano by modifying the piano's action parts. Each touch design is a
special recipe that specifies for each note the exact proportions of
hammer weight, hammer leverage, key balancing weight, and frictional
resistance. Once calibrated to these rigid specifications, the piano
takes on the expected characteristic feel, with an extremely
consistent response from note to note. Touch designs are chosen
based on quantitative computer analysis of your action combined with
your own qualitative assessment. A Precision TouchDesign is then
designed to fit your specific need.
Stanwood says that the advantages of his touch designs include
improved dynamic range, control, and repetition for "best possible"
performance pianos; reducing, or in some cases stopping, repetitive
stress injury due to inordinate physical stress; increasing the
value of the piano, facilitating the purchase and sale of pianos;
and generally improving pianistic ability and expression. Stanwood
is currently licensing and training technicians worldwide to install
his touch designs, which have received strong endorsements from
concert artists and technicians.
www.stanwoodpiano.com.
Magnetic Balanced Action
The Magnetic Balanced Action, invented by Evert Snel and Hans
Velo from the Netherlands, is a system that uses magnets, instead of
key leads, to create the keyboard's touchweight. A pair of
attracting magnets is active in front of the fulcrum and a pair of
repelling magnets in back. The gap between the magnets in each pair,
and therefore the attracting or repelling force, can be set by means
of a screw adjustment in each key. In addition, there are several
screws that can be used to make global adjustments for whole
sections of the keyboard at once.
When the Magnetic Balanced Action is installed in a piano, any
pianist can adjust the touchweight to his or her personal preference
in a matter of seconds. Also, when maintenance is performed that
alters the touch-weight, such as filing or replacing hammers, the
optimal touchweight can be easily restored. Besides the ability to
adjust the touchewight, however, are the advantages that come from
the reduced inertia due to the lack of key leads: better control for
soft playing, faster return of the key, and less strain on the
pianist's hands.
The only manufacturer currently making the Magnetic Balanced
Action available as an option in new pianos is Fazioli. However, the
Fazioli distributor in the United States is coordinating efforts to
make the system available as a retrofit for existing pianos. The
approximate installed price is $8,500.
www.internationalbrokersinc.com.
Reduced-Size Keyboard For Small Hands
Pianists with small hands can experience great difficulty in
playing the standard piano repertoire, and sometimes suffer injury
from the physical stress involved. There is now a solution to their
problem. A 7/8-size keyboard—one in which the width of each
key, and therefore the width of the entire keyboard, is 7/8 that of
a standard keyboard—is being offered by American manufacturer David
Steinbuhler. No piano manufacturer yet has this as a
factory-supplied option in new pianos, but the "D.S. Standard"
keyboard (as it is called) can be retrofitted into existing piano.
Steinbuhler is also exploring the possibility of manufacturing other
sizes of keyboard and says he can custom-make keyboards to fit any
hand. He maintains a showroom with facilities for overnight visitors
for pianists would would like to try out instruments outfitted with
various sizes of keyboard.
To have a grand piano retrofitted with the new keyboard, the old
keyframe, keyboard, and action are shipped to Steinbuhler's shop,
where the old keyframe's size is precisely duplicated, and the new
keyframe is fitted with the new keyboard. The action, new keyframe,
and new keyboard are returned to the customer, where a local
technician slides them back into the piano and regulates everything.
The cost of having a 7/8-size keyboard retrofitted into a grand
piano is approximately $7,800, and so is most appropriate for
serious pianists with high-quality instruments.
www.dskeyboards.com.
Mail-Order Sources For Piano Accessories
Beethoven Pianos offers a wide variety of piano accessories,
including piano benches, bench cushions, piano lamps, music stands,
piano polishes, caster cups, and much, much more. You can purchase
securely over the internet through our piano accessories store at
www.beethovenpianosaccessories- .com. Your satisfaction is our
guarantee!
Reprinted with permission from Larry Fine's
The Piano Book. |
