Scott,
This sounds like a very reasonable explanation for the problem.
Thanks. Curious though, that it would be just this one key in
particular and not any further up (which would have a more direct
impact on geometry at the wheel). I'll play around with it. So far I
have noticed this issue with varying degrees of shimming, but it may
be significant that I had to substantially increase the amount of
shimming—by about the thickness of three sheets of copier paper—today,
probably due to the change in weather, and that would tend to magnify
the geometrical issue you identify.
The other thing I might try, with that in mind, is to swap the
position of the two outer melody strings. Currently I have a low G
(viola string) on the side that would receive the most pressure, so
switching the one giving me problems from one side to the other might
take care of the issue (and with any luck not introduce a problem for
the other string that is currently in that place). I'll report back if
that works.
On a side note, I wonder if curved key stems would help alleviate this
sort of issue. I don't recall who makes them, but I once saw keys that
had curved stems. Basically they were curved along a radius about 7 or
8 mm less than the wheel, so when they were pushed the moved in an arc
rather than in a straight line and the action of the tangents was
therefore geometrically identical for all the melody strings (I seem
to recall it was on a four-chanterelle instrument). I'd hate to try to
build an instrument like that, but it would, in principle, fix any
problems like what you describe.
Best,
Arle
On Dec 1, 2007, at 2:17 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Arle,
Consider that the plane of the wheel is a curve and the plane of
the keys is a straight line. Therefore, if you push on the keys the
pressure of each string on the wheel changes with each push of the
key. In essence, you are pushing the string farthest from you harder
into the wheel as you play and the string closest to you away from
the wheel. This is aggravated by the fact that the keybox you have
is wider that most and thus the pressure on the wheel changes more
dramatically. This causes the string to lighten its pressure on the
wheel and, although it plays while the key is pressed, it causes the
string to have to "catch" again before the open note will begin to
play which causes a warbled effect. Much like having to pluck the
heavy drones in order to get them to start ringing.
My suggestion is to very slightly increase the pressure on the
wheel for that single string and try to find a happy medium between
the pressure on the wheel and the sound of the string. This may take
some work but I know you are up to it.
Scott
Thanks to Curtis Berak for pointing this simple but often missed
point out to me.
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