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hmmm, playing softly seem like an interesting topic.... just press the middle pedal lah!!! - but then, no more dynamic range ..

I'm still thinking, how soft do we have to play? What level is consider ppp enough? I just simplify it an play at 5 level, soft, midsoft, medium, medium loud and loud.
At very soft level, all touch action gotta be smooth and even to start with - quite difficult to achieve. As, probably the flange are at different tigheness. Otherwise, miss note might occur as different keys strikes at different press strength. So it means that to play ppp, both player skill(much more difficult) and mechanical plays a part. No point asking your tech to needle/shape the hammer before checking the action friction - at various friction areas.

Ai yah.. just shift your ppp level higher loh - relativity. When i try to play very soft, my face expression changes, >< like concentrating very hard.
Want to try my kawai? it's easier to pp.

Yah, the Eb n E is bichord, 2 strings at the left end of the tenor section. Sounds little bit thin. Intrestingly, my kawai is using 3 plain steels on all the tenor section.

Check out the other higher range U3 or U5, see what type of string they use? Perhaps its totally different scale design - so can't compare...

NW: So have you tried out the "Ellington" & "Otto-Renner" yet? How does it feels? Easier to ppp??

Hi Scoopycar,

"When i try to play very soft, my face expression changes, >< like concentrating very hard."

hahaha that was so funny. Don't need to concentrate so hard. You need to relax your fingers to play soft. Start with a slow piece first. Practice makes perfect. :-)

Haven't got the time to try on the Ellingtion / Otto-Renner.

Might also consider Kawai. Any idea how much is a new K6 & K8 ?

"Might also consider Kawai. Any idea how much is a new K6 & K8 ?"

You must get a "grand action" piano for your ppp requirements I recommend you the SK-2 !! just kidding
I haven't any piano to think of at the moment. But i've tried a schimmel and kawai grand with higher intertia touch - which you definitely can play ppp.

Happy searching....

Not a grand, but the search is OVER!!! YIPPEE!!!

Fine instrument choice!!
Is that a K25 ??

nice carpet......

pufferfish: wah, you finally got your piano! Very nice indeed. Looks like you got the K3? I'm sure you'll enjoy the piano.

NW: new K6 is about $11K+ and new K8 is about $12K+. They had this anniversary offer when I bought the K8 so I paid $11K+ for the K8. I think the offer is still on.

snoopycar: you are always promoting and encouraging people to get the grand piano - when will it be your turn to get one?

notice the left 3 notes of the tenor section are bichords?

Clam: haha. hold on... i'm saving up $$ to buy one - really. To ramp up my saving rate, i've sold my car last evening... now we're talking..
No more car from May, left my 2 "cars"(legs). Changing to the most popular car called "BMW", Bus-Mrt-Walking... hehehe Buying a Grand is like a dream of my life, car no more important.

cheers

Yup, it's a K-3.

Clam, has your K-8 arrived yet? Think you booked it about 2 weeks ago, around the time of the Yamaha Fair?

Snoopycar, what does having bichords there mean?

yah lah, snoopycar, what are bichords? Sounds like a person with two vocal cords. Looks like you have taken the first step towards getting a grand! Way to go!

pufferfish, good choice in getting a K3. Like I said, I was blown away by the sound of the K3 during my first visit to Robert Piano while someone was playing a few pieces on it. My K8 should be on the way this week...

aiyayaya.. bichord is the twin stirngs pairs which are copper wound loh..

At the tenor to treble, they are usually triple plain steel strings strung per note, sorri to be cheim.. hehehe not cheim

There's a way to make the touch harder. That's to increase the hammer return spring tension. But for U1, the retaining chord is quite fragile and breaks - even at normal spring rate.

Have you check you action for any broken spring retainer chord? Mine has 8 broken chord, have fix all. When the chord breaks, the hammer return spring cannot work - like lost of gravity pull. Just a gentle touch on the key can launch the hammer to the string and stikes louder than other keys.... another cheimilogy...

Scoopycar: Thanks for the info. Will get the tuner to check it out too.

Wow, did you pay a lot for the repair ? You certainly know a lot about the piano. So brilliant.

Yes, piano has become my hobby and interest.
Actually, i didn't pay alot for the repairs(DIY you can too).
I'm a piano tech "undergrad" leh
and freelance tuner tech - hehehe.

Instead of the silk cord, i use a similiar material and special glue.

It's not too difficult. The cord is a 0.5mm thick string thread which hook onto the return spring. Just scrap off the old broken cord, cut the cord to length, glue it onto the groove on the hammer flange, making sure the triangle shape formed is same as the others, about 10mm from the flange.
Remember to align the hammer to strike the sting exactly on target onto the old wear groove.

I can attach a pic to show you where this part is later - if you're keen

Hi all: i post at the adult beginner about what Grade stardard is the A. Dvorak Humoresque? Didn't get many response ....

Do you know? It's a very nice piece, you know?

Hi NW, the cord looks like this.

w800i macro very good hor?

oh no, 2 broken again ..... sian...


I just remember something about ppp playablity.
Can you try this: Depress the damper pedal and play pp. Is it much easier? If so there is a different using and not using damper.
It can be adjusted by damper lift timing and spring rate. It's much easier to adjust the grand lift time by a set screw. But you'd have be bent the damper spoon for the upright.
Another thing. friction have creep up at your damper piviot or felt lining. hehehe

cheers

looking at the technicalities and fragility of piano internals which most of us have no idea about, maybe we should all just use Clavinovas... :p

Scoppycar:

My previous teacher doesn't allow me to use the damper pedal when playing pp ... she said it is cheating. Unless it is stated una corda, the use of soft pedal is permitted.

Does anyone here has any comment about this ?

I supposed the original version of "Humoresque" by Dvorak is about Grade 7 standard.

Hi NW, actually i meant to test the capability of your U1 pp ability by separating the friction of the damper lift. not play a whole piece with damper depress lah....

1 observation i made is, if damper friction not good, at the end of your keypress, you keypress speed(slow pp speed) get distrupted by the damper friction, and slows down too much, causing hammer to miss the stings.

If other regulations are within specf, meaning not other bad frictions like sticky hammer butt leather.., by isolating separate section of the action, in this case, the damper lift timing and friction, we can determine what's the main contributing culprit. The keypress transition from 0mm to 10mm should be as smooth as possible.

Many a times, tech were too quick to fault the hammer hardness too soon before making proper diagnostic..... sounds cheim again? hehehe

So to summarize, there seems to be 2 type of pp problem.
1) hammer is so hard, a gentle keypress cause a higher than expected volume
2) hammer are ok, but poor action cause pp to be difficult. Something like when you press pp, hammer didn't hit, so you try harder to overcome the friction, then hammer stroke becomes too fast...

I'm sure yamaha action is great(dynamic may not best, but much better than many other no brands) and you ppp problem can be solved... soon.


Wow... humoresque is grade 7? i can't believe it :0

Scoopycar:

I first learned "Humoresque" (edited version)when I was Grade 3 or 4.

However, the technical difficulty of the original score is more challenging.

Yipee....my K8 is finally here! And I'm having lots of fun "warming" it up...

waoh... careful don't overheat ok... hehehe
caress the keyboard..... make the piano sing for you. don't let TV distract your new love... kerkerker...

as usual, pictures pls... take one with you pretend to be seriously playing, another with a funny face with the "v" sign, ok?

how's the sound in you home, very "song"?

cheers