Every Piano has a Touch Design.
What is a Touch Design?.. A Touch Design is a recipe for the "feel" of the pianos "touch" and consists of the measured , leverage, and friction in each key, using the new touchweight metrology. Stanwood's studies found that Touch Design recipes vary widely from piano to piano. He found that when touch design parameters are very consistent from note to note, the response of the keys will be very consistent as well. Stanwood also discovered that the combined levels of touch design parameters will indicate if the piano will feel too heavy, too light, or just right. In addition he found that touch design parameters will tell if a piano is producing full tonal energy. Stanwood found that when the touch design of one piano was reproduced in another, the "feel" of that piano is reproduced as well. Stanwood calls this "Touchweight Cloning".
Precision
TouchDesigntm
- The Highest Standard
What is a Precision Touch Design? Stanwood studied
the
touch designs of many pianos and correlated the data with
pianist
opinions.
From these studies he developed idealized touch design specifications
in
a variety of standard or customized design configurations which he
calls
"Precision TouchDesignstm. Stanwood Precision TouchDesignstm
may be used to reconfigure the touch of any grand piano thereby
creating
a degree of perfect touch and tone that is higher than any achieved
before.
The task of playing piano is made easier
Think of playing the piano as artfully dancing up and down a staircase. With Precision TouchDesigntm the steps are very even and the staircase is just the right steepness. Without it the steps are uneven and the stair may be too steep or too shallow, requiring more difficult technique to negotiate. Similarly, in a piano with Precision TouchDesigntm the multiple weight components such as hammer weight and lead weights in the keys are made to a highly accurate standard thereby guaranteeing smooth transitions from note to note with an ideal voicing of the tone. The action leveraging is designed to be not too heavy or too light but matched to the physique of the player.
A brighter future for Pianos
When asked why no one thought of this before, Stanwood replied: "All this became possible because I spent years taking, graphing, and correlating touchweight data with the aid of computer analysis. This gave me vision for my inventions. Our piano making forefathers did not have personal computers in their shops." Stanwood says he was inspired by Gottfried Leibnitz and Sir Isaac Newton who both invented Calculus because the existing mathematics did not give answers to problems that needed solving. Similarly, the new touchweight metrology is spawning a whole new range of techniques for improving the feel of pianos that were unimaginable before its inception.
Article in Piano & Keyboard Magazine entitled:
"The Weighting Game"
NOTE* This is the best article for gaining an understanding it all!
Article in Sheet Music Magazine entitled:
"The Right Touch"
Article entitled "TAKING THE PAIN OUT OF PIANO"
Stanwood Precision Touch Designs Featured in September 2000 KEYBOARD MAGAZINE
Trade Journal Publications by Stanwood at:
Piano Technician
Journal Publications by Stanwood
A List of prominent Concert Pianos utilizing Stanwood Precision Touch Designs.
Stanwood makes pilgrimage to CubaCheck the List of Licensed Precision TouchDesignTM Installers.
NOTICE:
The Stanwood Touch Design System is Patented:
US PATENT
# 5,585,582
US PATENT
# 5,796,024
"TouchDesign" is a trademark of Stanwood Piano Innovations Inc.