The Piano Regulation Process
What are the steps and why is it crucial for the health of your piano?
Piano regulation is a comprehensive process that adjusts the mechanical aspects of a piano to ensure optimal performance and responsiveness. Unlike tuning, which corrects the pitch of the piano by adjusting the tension of its strings, regulation involves adjusting the mechanical action and keyboard to improve the piano's touch and sound. Here's an overview of what the piano regulation process entails, broken down into key components:
Regular regulation is essential for maintaining a piano's performance and longevity. Over time, the mechanical parts of a piano wear down and compact, leading to changes in the action's responsiveness and the instrument's overall feel and sound. Regulation addresses these issues, ensuring the player has the best possible experience.
Because piano regulation is a complex and highly skilled task, it typically requires the expertise of a professional piano technician. The frequency of regulation depends on the piano's age, usage, and environment, but pianos in concert use may require regulation before each performance, while those in homes might only need it every few years.
When buying a used piano, it can be costly to find a qualified technician ready and able to aid you in the process of making sure your piano sounds it’s best, so you do too. Here are all the factors a technician considers in a regulation process:
1. Key Leveling and Key Dip
Key Leveling: Adjusting the keys so they are all at the same height when at rest.
Key Dip: The distance a key travels downward when pressed. Adjusting the key dip ensures uniformity in the feel and response of the keys.
2. Hammer Filing and Shaping
Over time, piano hammers become compacted and grooved from striking the strings, which can affect the tone. Filing and shaping the hammers remove the grooved surfaces, restoring their rounded shape and improving the tone quality.
3. Hammer Blow Distance
This is the distance from the hammer to the string when the hammer is at rest. Adjusting this distance ensures that the hammer strikes the string with optimal force, improving the piano's dynamic range.
4. Let-off and Drop
Let-off: The point at which the hammer disengages from the jack and flies freely towards the string. Proper adjustment is crucial for controlling the touch and responsiveness of the piano.
Drop: After the let-off, the hammer doesn't hit the string but stops at a specified distance from it. This distance, or "drop," is adjusted for consistency across all keys.
5. Checking and Adjusting Repetition
The repetition mechanism in a grand piano allows a note to be played repeatedly without the key returning to its full upright position. Adjusting this ensures that notes can be played quickly and with even repetition.
6. Damper Timing
Dampers stop the strings from vibrating when keys are released. Adjusting the timing ensures that the dampers engage and disengage at the correct moments, allowing for clean note articulation and sustain.
7. Pedal Adjustment
This involves adjusting the pedals to ensure they engage the mechanisms (such as the damper or soft pedal mechanisms) properly. The sustain pedal (damper pedal), soft pedal (una corda), and sostenuto pedal (if present) are all adjusted for optimal performance.
8. Voicing or Tone Regulation
Though sometimes considered a separate process, voicing adjusts the piano's tone by manipulating the density and tension of the hammer felts. This can brighten or mellow the sound of the piano.
All the restored vintage pianos we sell at our showroom come with a completely clean bill of health having been through this entire regulation process by multiple expert technicians. Visit ProsperPianos.com to make an appointment to come hear our pianos in person.