This next post is more or less a call to anyone who owns a piano to consider some important facts about the maintenance needs of their pianos that are often neglected because of the lack of technical advice from technicians who tune pianos, and from the fear of putting too much money into their pianos. For many years, I often just did what the customer asked me to do; just tune the piano. But at times, there would be a piano that could hardly be played because the action and keyboard were so hard to play responsively. I would point the problem out to the customer and they would quickly agree that they did notice this problem. So they would next ask me simply how much it would cost to repair it. I give them a detailed list of things that should be done and the price. Then after performing the service, they would notice a huge difference in how easy it is to play the piano again. The process I had performed was a process called, action regulation.
Action regulation in its complete function and process involves many of the following steps:
1. the keyboard adjustment. This involves making sure the whole keyboard frame in a grand piano is completely stable and fits in the piano like a glove. When it is not, there would be a knocking sound when tapping on the frame's adjustable mounts. The mounts are also a glide post so that the keyboard can shift during left pedal (soft or unacorda) operation. The upright piano doesn't have that function.
2. The key height adjustment. Keys are brought to proper height and leveled evenly. When keys are low and high, the overall key level is like a roller coaster. Keys must be set high enough to have the full leverage it takes for the action components to fully engage and trigger a note being played.
3. Action regulation: Many steps are involved in this process. But to summarize, it involves adjusting the hammers, tightening action screws, aligning many parts, adjusting when a hammer releases and when it drops, adjusting the repetition spring, adjusting key dip.
4. Voicing: the process of adjusting tone quality produced by the hammer felts. Hammer felts have a certain density that governs how bright a tone or mellow a tone will be heard. It's density is adjusted by sanding and needling. It is the most artistic aspect of piano repair that require a good ear and a good touch.
5. Damper adjustments; The part of the piano that stops the string vibrations for each note.
When a complete regulation has been accomplished, the experienced pianist can then detect the following qualities of their piano.
1. Improved tone projection and sustainability and resonance.
2. Improved ability to play notes repeatedly and rapidly without missing a hit.
3. Improved ability to play very, very softly without missing a note strike.
4. Evenness of tone throughout the whole keyboard scale.
The piano with such care will begin to have a personality that comes alive and speaks and connects with the pianist and therefore a more enjoyable journey in music.
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