3 ms·

I’ve often thought it might be interesting to replace the springs in a piano’s action with electromagnets so you could have control over the exact touch profile

I’ve often thought it might be interesting to replace the springs in a piano’s action with electromagnets so you could have control over the exact touch profile.

mikepurvis 8y ago
I don't have a full text link, but definitely there's been some work done on at least the front end of this problem: https://uwaterloo.ca/motion-research-group/publications/kinematic-model-piano-action-mechanism https://uwaterloo.ca/motion-research-group/publications/kine...
tomcam 8y ago
Or you could pay a piano tech a couple hundred, then have nothing to worry about for the next few generations
callalex 8y ago
I don’t think pianos typically have any springs, everything is gravity powered with counterweights. The only springiness comes from striking the strings as far as I know. Only the really cheap electronic keyboards use springs. Even halfway decent electronic pianos still rely on counterweights.
- Xcelerate 8y ago
  I’m pretty sure even really nice uprights (Yamaha U3) have jack springs... maybe I saw the wrong diagram
- ordu 8y ago
  I cannot speak about any piano, because I had chance to tinker with only one, but that piano had springs. Keys itself return into their normal position because of gravity, but part of key action mechanism was powered by a spring. I discovered it while trying to fix some keys which was too slow to "recharge", to return to a normal position after a soft note, so I was unable to make a sequence of a short duration soft notes from the same key. I fixed it by stretching springs long enough for a plastic deformation to occur. Loud notes worked ok, because their "recharge" was driven fully by springness of the strings. Though it was just one piano, I do not know how different the mechanics can be between different pianos.
beefman 8y ago
A guy named David Stanwood has a network of licensed piano techs all around the country who can replace the lead weights in the keys with magnets. One of the stated benefits is reduced key inertia. https://www.stanwoodpiano.com https://www.stanwoodpiano.com

I’ve often thought it might be interesting to replace the springs in a piano’s action with electromagnets so you could have control over the exact touch profile.

mikepurvis 8y ago

I don't have a full text link, but definitely there's been some work done on at least the front end of this problem: https://uwaterloo.ca/motion-research-group/publications/kinematic-model-piano-action-mechanism https://uwaterloo.ca/motion-research-group/publications/kine...

tomcam 8y ago

Or you could pay a piano tech a couple hundred, then have nothing to worry about for the next few generations

callalex 8y ago

I don’t think pianos typically have any springs, everything is gravity powered with counterweights. The only springiness comes from striking the strings as far as I know. Only the really cheap electronic keyboards use springs. Even halfway decent electronic pianos still rely on counterweights.

Xcelerate 8y ago
I’m pretty sure even really nice uprights (Yamaha U3) have jack springs... maybe I saw the wrong diagram
ordu 8y ago
I cannot speak about any piano, because I had chance to tinker with only one, but that piano had springs. Keys itself return into their normal position because of gravity, but part of key action mechanism was powered by a spring. I discovered it while trying to fix some keys which was too slow to "recharge", to return to a normal position after a soft note, so I was unable to make a sequence of a short duration soft notes from the same key. I fixed it by stretching springs long enough for a plastic deformation to occur. Loud notes worked ok, because their "recharge" was driven fully by springness of the strings. Though it was just one piano, I do not know how different the mechanics can be between different pianos.

beefman 8y ago

A guy named David Stanwood has a network of licensed piano techs all around the country who can replace the lead weights in the keys with magnets. One of the stated benefits is reduced key inertia. https://www.stanwoodpiano.com https://www.stanwoodpiano.com