Piano Touch Lab is a web application designed to help measure, analyze, and design optimal piano action balancing. Based on the groundbreaking work of David C. Stanwood, particularly his "New Touch Weight Metrology" and "The Equation of Balance" methodologies, this tool provides a complete workflow from initial measurements to generating adjustment sheets.
Important: Piano Touch Lab is a toolbox, not a magic wand. It provides the tools for measurement, analysis, and calculation, but it makes no design decisions for you. All balancing and adjustment choices must come from a trained technician with proper knowledge of piano action regulation methods. Your expertise, your hands, and your judgment are what turn these numbers into a responsive action. This tool is here to assist your expertise, not replace it.
Piano Touch Lab is available as a web application. You can access it directly in your browser without any installation required at the following URL : https://www.piano-touch-lab.com
No account required. Everything is stored locally in your browser.
- Measure essential touch weight parameters
- Support for optional wippen support spring measurements
- Custom keyboard layout support for non-standard pianos
- Interactive charts for all measured parameters
- Automatic computation of Friction and Balance Weight
- Automatic computation of the Strike Weight Ratio
- Visualization of standard curves for Front Weight and Strike Weight
- Model and calculate balancing scenarios based on standard or custom curves
- Automatic computation Front Weight or Strike Weight
- Support for custom smoothed curves
- Modeling of the wippen support spring tension impact
- Real-time preview of the resulting touch weight
- Generate comprehensive and printable Adjustment Sheets
- Export your work to a file for backup or archiving
- Import/Export data to manage multiple pianos
Piano Touch Lab was born from a personal journey: that of a piano enthusiast, fascinated as much by the musical instrument as by its complex mechanics.
I am a software developer by trade, but also an amateur engaged in the restoration project of a grand piano. While diving into the technical literature, I discovered the foundational work of David C. Stanwood. His methodologies on action balancing are brilliant, but also dense and complex to fully grasp.
To ensure I mastered every concept, every calculation, and every interaction of the "Equation of Balance," I started doing what I do best: writing code. I built a small application to model these principles and validate my own understanding.
What began as a personal learning tool quickly evolved into something more comprehensive. I realized that if this tool was so helpful to me for analysis and design, it could be just as useful for other enthusiasts and professional technicians.
So, I decided to share this project as open source. It's my way of contributing, on my own small scale, to the wonderful community of piano lovers, and I sincerely hope you find it useful.
To deepen your understanding of piano action balancing and touch weight analysis, the following resources are recommended:
David C. Stanwood developed the methodologies that form the foundation of modern touch weight analysis. His Piano Technicians Resource Page provides invaluable technical documents to learn about touch weight analysis and improvement.
"Pianos Inside Out: A Comprehensive Guide to Piano Tuning, Repair, and Rebuilding" by Mario Igrec is an essential reference that covers touchweight analysis along with all aspects of piano technology. Learn more at pianosinsideout.com.
If you want to contribute to Piano Touch Lab or run it locally:
- Bun (JavaScript runtime and package manager)
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/madmatah/piano-touch-lab.git
cd piano-touch-lab
# Install dependencies
bun install# Start development server
bun dev
# Build for production
bun run build.ts
# Run tests, linter
bun test