- #1
BlueAndGreen
- 2
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Hello!
I have a question about grand piano action design. As a quick primer, the way a piano works is basically that each key is a lever mounted on a fulcrum, so when a player presses a key, the other end of that lever rises. A hammer is attached to the other end of the key, and when that end rises, the hammer swings up and hits a string, which produces a sound.
On all grand pianos, as far as I can tell, the other end of the key levers are very short, so the hammer is positioned near the player. The length of the lever is approximately equal on both sides of the fulcrum (the player presses the key, and the other end which the player does not press is also about as long as the key). What I am wondering is:
1. Suppose someone made a piano with much longer key levers so that the hammers could be positioned in the back of the piano, but leaving the fulcrum where it was. What effect would that have on the player? They would be pushing the short end of a lever (the key) with a much longer back end, which would seem to me to be more unwieldily (and is perhaps why pianos aren't designed like this), but it's been a while since I've taken physics and I'm not quite sure.
2. Suppose someone made a piano with much longer key levers so that the hammers could be positioned in the back of the piano, and also moved the fulcrums so now the player is pushing on a very long key to move the relatively short other end of the lever. What effect would that have on the player? It would seem to me that it could result in louder song (longer lever arm=more torque=hammer hits the string harder), but again, I'm rusty and not quite sure.
I have a question about grand piano action design. As a quick primer, the way a piano works is basically that each key is a lever mounted on a fulcrum, so when a player presses a key, the other end of that lever rises. A hammer is attached to the other end of the key, and when that end rises, the hammer swings up and hits a string, which produces a sound.
On all grand pianos, as far as I can tell, the other end of the key levers are very short, so the hammer is positioned near the player. The length of the lever is approximately equal on both sides of the fulcrum (the player presses the key, and the other end which the player does not press is also about as long as the key). What I am wondering is:
1. Suppose someone made a piano with much longer key levers so that the hammers could be positioned in the back of the piano, but leaving the fulcrum where it was. What effect would that have on the player? They would be pushing the short end of a lever (the key) with a much longer back end, which would seem to me to be more unwieldily (and is perhaps why pianos aren't designed like this), but it's been a while since I've taken physics and I'm not quite sure.
2. Suppose someone made a piano with much longer key levers so that the hammers could be positioned in the back of the piano, and also moved the fulcrums so now the player is pushing on a very long key to move the relatively short other end of the lever. What effect would that have on the player? It would seem to me that it could result in louder song (longer lever arm=more torque=hammer hits the string harder), but again, I'm rusty and not quite sure.