Sunday, 24 April 2016

Grand Regulation – part XIX



35) The Aftertouch (continued)

The aftertouch is purposely regulated late in section IV, “The Touch,” because so many other steps affect it. In fact, I often do the backchecks and repetition springs before regulating the aftertouch (sometimes this is a must if the springs were weak), making the dip the last of the nine essential steps in grand regulation. Regulating the dip after the backchecks may throw the backchecking distance off, so some minor touch-up may be necessary here. The amount that the key goes down in the front directly affects the amount that the key goes up at the back, thereby changing the height at which the backchecks catch the hammer tails.

Make sure that the key height and blow distances are very even, as just a little mistake in either will show up in too much or not enough aftertouch. The action should have been played upon and “settled in.” This is especially true, if the keyframe has been refelted. If nothing else, give the piano a good tuning, making sure to “pound the notes in.” After playing, recheck the key height, using both a straight-edge as well as eyesight, even looking at the keys from different angles. Likewise for the hammer line. All corrections should be made before starting to regulate the aftertouch.

The action must be in the piano, as it is impossible to work with such close tolerances with the keyframe away from the keybed...

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