My tech wants to service (tighten?) the action now and regulate later. Should I have him do both at the same time? Am I wasting my $$ having him service the action now? Will the servicing work disappear once the action is regulated?

Thanks, guys, any help you can give is great.

JF
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Well, I usually tighten everything down when I regulate the action so, if I were to "tighten it down now" I'd tighten it down again later too just to make sure things stayed that way.

Maybe the action screws are so loose that he thinks it should be tightened now but, doesn't have the time until later to do the whole job?

The best person to ask would be your tech, but most "service" on an action might mean a little less work later. You probably will not be paying for the same work twice.

Tightening loose screws is necessary before reguation. So make sure you are not paying twice. For future reference, find out why the Tech can't do all the work necessary within a certain time frame. How much later?

When I am servicing an action I usually have a couple of hours to work with. A complete regulation on can a good two days worth of work or about 12-16 hours. It could even take more time if there are issues with repinning and key weighting.

Today I serviced a 20 year old Yamaha G-3 at a church where the local teachers will be conducting adjudications. Hammers had not had any work done in many years, the action was stiff, pedals out of adjustment and a tuning about 20 cents flat. A "servicing" in this case consisted of pitch raising and tuning, lubricating the key pins and bushings, adjusting the pedals, adjusting the damper upstop rail, a light filing of the hammers followed by a little voicing to even up the tone.

It is possible there may be some redundancies if he services the piano now and regulates later. But if the tech keeps track of the work that he does and not too much time lapses in between, the servicing may give him/her a head start on the regulating. Just make sure they really know what they're doing.

How did you find your technician and how do you know they are qualified? From your post, it sounds like your not 100% confident that your tech is serving you well.

Of course, it's difficult to know from a distance...

In my vocabulary, servicing might mean only making things work. Maybe you've got a few keys that are loose due to the dry indoor air? Maybe a few wobbly parts in need of care?

Regulating usually means a whole lot more work - depending on the tech and the situation it may mean replacement of some or all of the worn parts to bring it at least back to factory specs...

If you don't need/want to play right away, then just do the big job now. If you want to play now, then go for the servicing and then schedule the regulation when you and the tech both have time.

Ron Koval

Ron:

That Avatar really dates you.

Thanks, everybody. The tech is new to me but highly recommended, and I like him on the phone.

Sounds like I am not going to waste my money, and I do want to play now and spend more time, money later.

I am just going to keep track of all that is done to the piano, with the date, so that the work is not duplicated in the near future. I will have it fully regulated in a few weeks.

You guys are great--

JF
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JF, with questions like this it really helps if we know how old the piano is, how long it's been since it was serviced, what kind, etc.

If your tech is doing "service" to "get it working" now, and later 're-does' some of the same things in the context of regulation, it's really not 'paying for the same thing twice'. Sorta like changing a tire on the road (the dreaded "donut"...) then changing it later (to a "real" one). You've done the "same thing", but not really...

I'm not saying you shouldn't be conscientious--you, and every other consumer should be, always. Ask questions! Most of us will talk your ears off about pianos!!