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Last week a man from the Steingraeber factory who was responsible for the final prep of their pianos for concerts came by and regulated our piano. I found his work, and his explanations absolutely fascinating, so I filmed them to share with others who have similar interests. He now lives in the Washington, D.C. area, and will be back soon to voice and tune the piano. This video is 33 minutes and 50 seconds long, but it shows all of the detail from 9 hours of work. On the bottom right you’ll see a small square comprised of four small arrows. Click it to expand the video, then on the top right of your screen, click “scaling is on” so it changes to “scaling is off”, and you will be able to watch it in high def at 1280 x 720. This is still condensed quite a bit from the full resolution of 1920 x 1080, 35 mbps. We watched the video in Blu-ray format on a large screen TV last night, and it was great to be able to see the detail so clearly.

http://www.vimeo.com/21494671

I have just scanned it so far (plan to watch it later). Great video! Thanks for posting.

It's fantastic WKH! He is fantastic!

Looking forward to the voicing and tuning.

LL

Fascinating. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this video especially the treat at the end. It appears you are pleased with the work done.
Thanks for the post!
Carl

Very cool. Nice of the tech to let you record and explain everything so well.

Is that the model 272? I can't really tell from the camera angle but I think its too long to be the 232. What a phenomenal piano. I'll probably never own one, but I do get to tune and tweak these gems for the NYC dealer, and all I can say is this is one of the three or four greatest pianos that money can buy.

You must be thrilled with the results - as work began, the hammer line looked really uneven and the strike points looked flat. Also looks like Matthias went for a slightly rounder hammer shape than what normally comes out of the factory. The hammers coming from the factory have more of a "diamond" shape at the strike point, which I find to be a bit on the aggressive side.

Please post a new video after the piano is voiced and tuned. Would also love to hear some music with "air" and sustain so we can hear the bloom of the tone through the decay and sustain envelope. To me, the Steingraeber sound immerses the player in a three-dimensional aural experience like no other piano does.

Thanks for posting this, and happy playing...Matthias is also an excellent narrator...

Wow.
My computer monitor is 42" and when set to full screen the quality is amazing.
The camera work is superb and professionally done.
This is an absolutely wonderful and detailed little documentary that is a little instructional course in itself.
Thanks immensely for posting this.

Fascinating indeed, thanks for posting.
This is the most interesting video on piano regulation I've ever seen.
Can't wait to see part II.

I enjoyed watching that video, and I learned a few things just by watching… you could tell the technician really knew what he was doing.

I’ve done some regulation on my piano actions, and have used some of the exact same techniques and custom made tools.

Needless to say, there is a lot that goes into the thorough regulation of a grand piano action… and that one was thorough!

Thanks for posting!!!

Rick

Bill

Does Matthias work for PianoCraft?

Very interesting and well explained. I don't know if there are other videos on the web like this, but I've never seen one.

Everywhere I've been in Germany, this seems routine procedure.
The techs are all trained the same, doing virtually same.
This is not to take away from the excellence of this particular tech, but fact is that 99% of German trained concert techs work at or very much near same level.

Lucky to have some over here who work by same or very similar methods. There are a number of Canadian/U.S. techs who do exactly same, dare one say 2 of ours...

The biggest difference IMHO being the individual connection a tech has to the instrument him/herself - piano playing or highly musical techs from own experience, having a bit of an edge here.

Thanks for sharing - all good stuff.

Norbert

Ausgezeichnet! Excellent!

Thank you for sharing this video.



Jeff Tasch

Grand Piano Haus

... but if a space-flight ticket is too expensive, a piano with a great technician can be a perfect alternative to make you feel in heaven .

GREAT video. I liked it very much.

Big Thanks! to everybody involved.

How much a full regulation like this would cost?

Thanks

As a prelude to discussion of cost, the very first step of regulation is "Replace worn or broken parts". This is practically a new piano, with just a tiny amount of wear. Often regulation is done after major rework, such as replacing hammers/shanks/flanges. Often key bushings and other action felt needs to be replaced.

Another thing to consider is the value of what you get. This work will last many years, probably at least five to ten years in a typical home situation.

--Cy--

One thing to note is that this process can be very time consuming. When you consider the tech made several adjustments on each note… multiply that times 88.

I’m just guessing, but I’d say it took the tech about 4 to 6 hours. I’d say (and I’m just guessing here) an in-home regulation (and voicing) like this would cost $500 to $800. But, I’m just speculating.

I will say that I don’t know if I would have had the courage to flip my action bracket upside-down and lay it on the table the way he did; but it did make it easy to get to the bottom flanges on the whippens to lube them.

Take care,

Rick

What about the balance rail punchings in this video?
I don´t believe that this is original Steingräber style. They are half cut, but the missing half is on the back side (to the action side). The other way round would be the half moon punching trick, but what is this?? Furthermore, why are thy glued to the keys? Very strange.

Gregor

I already asked this (to no avail) but will try again. Is this the model 272? I can only watch this on my small computer - no big screen TV in my place.

Gregor, good eye! Maybe the balance rail was tricked out by another tech post-factory...I will go back and view again. I do recall Matthias saying in the video that he was going to leave the key leveling alone. Interesting...

Rickster, the OP mentioned 9 hours for the work so far, not including voicing and tuning...Yeah, flipping the stack looks a little scary, doesn't it?

Hoola, I completely agree with what Cy said, and this is why many techs do not have "set" prices for regulation - there are many variables at play here, and a lower quality piano that is, say, only one or two years old might need new parts and repairs done before a successful regulation can even begin, whereas a 10 year-old high quality piano might need nothing replaced or repaired. Also, the amount of use the piano has received, and the RH and temp swings that the piano has been subjected to over time will be another huge factor in the state of any piano, its parts, and its state of regulation. All of these factors will affect pricing, at least for me and many other techs I know.

Over in the tech forum lately we've been discussing the ramifications of lower-priced pianos that use inferior felt and cloth punchings on the balance and front rails. In some cases the key leveling and dip may need to be re-regulated after just a few months of use, so the initial quality of the piano and its parts will greatly affect whatever work needs to be done down the road.

Awesome video.... Totally enjoyed it. Can hardly wait to see the next part.

Yes James, it is a 272. My dream piano!

Very interesting to learn the use of all these levers and see how they are set up.
Very nice stable filming. Also nice that the technician was willing to explain all these things and a lot more
Thanks for posting!

Gregor,

By glueing the half punching toward the front side, the touch becomes heavier by a few grams. Perhaps that is what the owner wanted. As you probably know, this shifts the key balance point slightly to the rear, making the response quicker but heavier. By cutting the punching in half and gluing it to the key (instead of clipping a small part) this maximizes the effect. I doubt this ws done by the factory.

Also, many keys had extra lead weights installed on the front, in addition to the ones at the rear. Was this done at the factory? Why front and rear?

Sorry I am so tardy is replying to the questions you asked. Hopefully these answers cover all of them.

James, Roberta has already answered this, but yes it is a 272.

Sparky, The Vimeo video I uploaded is a 2.8GB 720P version output for the web. The full resolution 1920 x 1080 video is almost 53GB. I can sent out a Blu-ray (1920 x 1080, about 8GB if I recall correctly) if you guys want to pass it around so you can see this in greater detail. And thank you, I am delighted to know you and others enjoyed it. Knowing this makes it well worth the time and effort required to make it.

Furtwangler, no Matthias does not work for Piano Craft, he is independent. Several people have written to ask how to contact him. His contact info is Matthias Wandler, email matzemusic@aol.com, phone 703-975-7249 in Arlington, VA (a suburb of Washington, D.C.).

Thanks Kwartyleugel. I am also anxious for part II! And your comment about the great technician is a perfect description of the mood here after he finished his work.

Hoola, the cost was a lot less than I expected (and worth considerably more). You can contact Matthias for specifics, but it may not be appropriate to post that information here.

Bill

I don´t believe that. Glueing the half punching toward the back side would make the touch lighter due to less friction.




I am in doubt. The lenght of the key remains the same and the hole is still in the same place.

Beautiful job of recording. Thank you.

Gregor,

The key leverage ratio changes throughout the key stroke. It would only be constant if the key is sitting on a knife edge. Because it is sitting on a felt punching, the virtual pivot point moves from the rear to the front, which changes the key ratio. By cutting part of the punching (either the front or the rear), we are reducing part of the shift, which moves the average balance point. I hope that is clear.

It is very clear, Jerry and a good description of some of the subtleties of key motion.

Perhaps WKH could elaborate on how those red felt punchings came to be installed on the underside of the keys? It is a known technique for altering the touch but rather unusual to see this on a piano like a Steingraeber. There are some distinct trade offs with such a alteration so I would be interested in the thought process that led to them.

Interesting video.

Thanks for posting.

So, now I have to do a little research on my piano to see the effect of cutting half of punching. I shall let you know the results.

Nicely done video - very good camera work.

I was a little horrified at the rather sloppy application of Protek all over the hammer shank centers! Yuck. I'm sure he is an excellent technician, but if he must use lubricants on the actions, I'd suggest being a little more, well, artful and careful. A drop on each side of the flange tongue is more than enough.

Don Mannino RPT

I'm happy you caught that Don. Then again how could you miss it. My eyes popped out of my head. A little more refinment on the application is in order. A hypo works better for applying lubricants in small defined places like flange bushings without overflow waste.

Thanks Don and George for raising that issue. I was a little afraid to be a nay-sayer about what was otherwise a careful regulation. There are a couple of his techniques that make me think he has spent more time as a field technician than on staff in the factory. However the careful fitting of hammers to strings, including the bass, is the mark of a high end tech.

What is the actual objection to applying liberal amounts of the Prolube? If he is correct in saying that it doesn't matter if you get excess on the wood, would it really hurt anything? I don't think he applied enough to drip down. Or is it just an aesthetic concern? If it is true that is can't hurt anything, it's probably not a big deal, is it? Maybe it's a bit ugly looking, but it probably takes a minute or two to lubricate a whole row of flanges instead of 30 minutes - might save the customer some money. Depends how much the Prolube costs, I guess.

I don't know about this stuff, so this is a genuine question.

When you work with a piano like the Steingraeber, or when you have had factory training, aesthetics matter. When a piano like that (or a Bosendorfer, or a Bluthner or a Feurich or a Forster etc) comes from the factory, the condition of the whole instrument, including the action, is a delight to the eye as well as the ear. For example the hammers look untouched, even though they have been extensively needled and worked on. There are techniques that are used to make them look pristine afterwards even though they have no direct affect on the tone. If you are a technician working (or striving to work) at the "factory" level or higher, then one goal is to maintain that pristine condition.

Another issue is that Renner actions are generally designed, and usually work, without that kind of wholesale application of lube everywhere. There may have been issues that required it, but generally the thinking is to lube only what needs lubrication, and usually Renner made flanges work pretty well.

The guy is clearly skilled with European training. However a couple of us had a reaction to some of his techniques.

Thanks for sharing the video. It's great to see how other technicians work. He is a brave soul for allowing his work to be broadcast world wide!

Here is a few of my observations:

1. In regards to the application of Protek. I actually don't have a problem with it. Protek on wood dries rather quickly and leaves no trace or discoloration. The stuff is about $40 a quart so it's probably good to be judicious with it. But he's certainly not hurting anything with his liberal application.

2. I was more bothered by the way he removed the keys from the keyframe at 9:30. It's best to lift the keys straight off the pins in order to not stress and distort the balance holes. Also when he's pulling off the keys the balance holes look pretty tight. It would be a good idea to carefully ease them for proper fit.

3. Back to the Protek: I question the application of Protek to the repetition lever flanges at the 14 minute mark. There is no advantage to lowering friction at this point. In fact it can lower the performance by causing the technician to lower the repetition spring tension to get the proper rise in the hammer. This means less aggressive jack return. It also makes setting the spring tension touchier.

4. I was more bothered by the over application of Teflon powder than the Protek. At 15:30 he rubs it all over the knuckles. I'll admit I used to use WAY too much teflon powder in my earlier years. The longer I'm in this business the more I realize that "less is more" when it comes to lubricants.

5. I find it odd to use a string target jig to set let off when he's right at the piano. I find I get the best accuracy setting let off right in the piano. You can get really precise let-off by "playing off the jack", meaning you bring the key just to the point of let-off and then play through the bump. You can make the action very sensitive at the ppp level this way.

6. I was a little surprised about his comments about key-height at 28:30. I'm guessing he checked it and found that the keyboard was already very level. However, this is usually the start of the regulation process. Key height effects, key dip,checking, hammer blow, after touch, and even action ratio to a very small degree, so its always good to check and make adjustments first.

I'm looking forward to seeing the sequel where he voiced the piano. The tone seemed very bright to me, even at the quieter levels. Keep us posted!

Lots of good points, Ryan. I give our colleague high marks for the willingness to be filmed and have that posted on the internet for all eternity. A few things did make my eyebrows rise, though.



I agree, less is more, which is one reason I choose not to pour any kind of lubricant over the action. There are better ways of applying Protec, just as there are better ways of applying Teflon.

I guess he is saving time by applying the Protek this way? How long would it take to apply it right on the spot for all joints (with a needle I suppose)?

I'm in regular contact with several German trained technicians residing in U.S. some of whom have seen the video. Was curious as to their reaction. Interestingly, nobody commented on the job itself or spent time criticising it.

Here's what one of them wrote back:

"Yes Norbert, I've done same and more. Does not work over here, pianos sell without that and the general buying population has not heard those results. Nor do stores make them aware of it or are willing to pay the $ 800 required for such job. Very few of my own customers do"

Question: Would you?

Norbert

Hi Norbert,

I can only speak for my own country and the neighbouring countries but extensive prep work is generally not done neither pre sales nor post sales. As the majority of the public is not aware of these possibilities most dealers get away with merely a general check up and a few tunings pre sales. This must explain why the piano market is overall more subdivided between the traditional mid price Japanese brands at one side and the higher priced German brands at the other side. While the better Chinese or Korean brands get increased attention too here the competition of the low priced brands with the traditional Japanese brands is less than it is in the US or North America in general I believe. The Chinese or Korean brands are more sold as ' OK but you get what you pay for' and the majority of the the buying public apparently still seem to believe the dealers and only buy Chinese/Korean if budget is really an issue; otherwise the go the safe way and chose Yamaha/Kawai or German if budget allows. This also explains why here I believe the better Chinese and Korean brand are under valued by the public as they rarely play them to their full potential.

Only exception is a part of the professional customer base, the piano teachers and performing pianists. They will demand their Yamahas, Steinways... to be prepped to the best level by the few competent dealer/techs around. Because there are few competent dealer/techs it even arrives that excellent but never well prepped instruments, e.g. Steiwnays, remain alsmost unused somewhere in a corner of a music academy or concert venue, that they prefer the better ex-factory prepped Yamaha, till a competent tech shows the how wonderfull the forgotten Steinway really is. This also explains why it is hard for wonderful brands like Estonia to brake the preducice opinion of a slit marke Japanese/German. However when a competent dealer shows them how much better an Estonia is than a traditional Japanese piano when given equal prep dedication, then one professional pianist after the other fall for it.

On the other hand I also do not think one can simply generalize the needs of the Piano Forum public to the needs of the North American public as a whole. PF members I think are more picky than the majority of the N.A consumers.

Would I spend the money?

Yes because I know from playing pianos from various brands at my dealers showroom and rfom being a member here what a world of improvement opens up when spending the money. Soon, in May, mine goes to the my dealer's worshop for some extensive prep work and I will spend some € 600,-.

schwammerl.

+1

All the stuff I read here on the forum about prep is really only what I read!
My shop gives great service but to them the piano works best as it comes from the factory. If it works don't try to fix it.... Only if something id really wrong they correct it. Sometimes that is hard because I know so much can be done.... It is frustrating that here they don't do it. It is just not part of the European dealer culture. I am happy I ended up with a Schimmel that has had good factory prep and sounds like a dream.

Patrick,

Sent you a PM.

schwammerl.

Me too, please!

Andrew,

In where are you located. Cannot see from your profile.

schwammerl.

I'm confused by what you have written here, and I think the people who subsequently posted in response to this are too. The technician is servicing a Steingraeber 272 piano that has obviously been in use for several years, not a new piano.

What you've written above (and the techs you quoted) implies that this video showed new piano prep. If that's the case, no way: the hammers needed reshaping and the hammer line was quite uneven at the beginning of the video. I don't know how old this piano is but it has been played regularly - probably at least a few years.

Also, where did the $800. figure come from? The owner didn't mention any prices anywhere in the thread or on the video. Someone else surmised that the work might have cost up to $800., but that was just a guess.

Almost all "new" pianos that have been played regularly for a few years will need regulation and voicing to perform at their maximum capability, even if they were perfect on the day they were delivered from the store. It was very clear from the video that this piano needed work, which should really just be considered maintenance.

Hey you guys, no note passing!

This prep and tweak issue is a complicated one. On one hand the final prep phase is critical to bring a piano to its full potential. But it is time consuming and expensive for the factory and, frankly, most people including many (not all) dealers can't tell the difference if the factory spends 6 or 12 hours on it. The factories take great heat from dealers to keep prices down which can lead to passing some of the burden down the line and turning a blind eye to the results.

Many dealers (not all) resent having the shoulder the cost and very frequently don't have, or choose not to pay for the skill level that can make the difference. Again, they take the easy way out by saying "the customers don't understand the difference and aren't willing to pay for it". Shopping based only on price reinforces this approach. Recently I listened in horror as a shopper bragged about how a dealer was going to deliver the piano in the box to show that it was fresh from the factory!

However in my experience, when shown the difference, people GET IT! A well made piano does respond to careful tweaking of the touch and tone. There are pianos makers who use very good materials in highly automated assembly with sometimes surprisingly little human contact. These pianos in particular benefit from prep because the tone and touch is there, just hidden.

Voicing at the high level factory is often not done to the optimum level and this makes sense. One does not know where this piano is going or to whom it might appeal, so to leave the voicing a little on the "undone" side is a prudent decision. It allows the dealer or owner to refine it.

Ahh, but here is the rub...this kind of work is hard to do right and takes a skill level that is not that widespread. In the right hands, however, it's an opportunity for differentiation for the dealer/tech and an opportunity to relive the beauty of a new piano all over again for the owner. I'm sure that when the work (including tuning and voicing) was completed on the Steingraeber in the video, the piano once again sang with a range of colors and subtlety of touch that are the hallmarks of the brand. It was probably a very pleasant shock to the owner since the deterioration of tone as a piano is played is very slow and hard to notice on a daily basis. But when it comes back after 2 days of careful work, WOW!

Jim is correct in pointing out that we're talking about 2 different, but closely related, service steps. The video shows careful, high level, maintenance on a high level piano that has clearly been loved and played at a high level.

This has easily morphed into a discussion about new piano prep because the skill levels needed and results are very similar. An unprepped, high quality, new piano does not show it's full personality in the same way a used piano suffers from lack of periodic high level maintenance. Anybody who loves pianos should seek out both levels of service.

One could argue that a new, but unprepped piano is not a high quality piano. I am very sure that Steingräber pianos are delivered from the factory in a quite perfect condition that does not need any further prep work.

Gregor

For me 800 USD per day is OK - for the work of a really good tech. Sometimes I get a visit from a high level technician who likes to travel around and give his giant flock of pianos "out there in the field" some personal hugs. If he is a whole day present, it is - converted to USD - a little bit above 900. This job is not nine to five, it maybe seven to seven or eight, interrupted with ingenious music (Jazz, Ragtime) and a lot of talk and fun. Normally no material costs are extra charged.

And my lucky dragon afterwards is an even luckier one, me too (..luckier..).

I'd love to be shown the difference, but I've never heard of a dealership that does this. It seems like it would take an inordinate amount of time and require having a non prepped piano nearby for comparison. Many dealers claim to do an incredibly high level of prep. I've posted several times at PW that when people who are not experienced techs claim their piano or some dealer's pianos were perfectly prepped, my first thoughts are "How could they possibly know?" How many pianists of any level could tell the difference between five hours regulation vs. ten hours? Or prep by an "A" level tech vs. a "B" level tech?

Depending on a pianist's skill and experience with different pianos, I think some can tell only in a basic way about general level of prep. I remember reading a story about world famous pianist who selected a piano in Steinway's basement and left a message for the tech about which notes needed voicing to make the piano's tone uniform. But the tech felt there were many additional notes that needed attention besides the ones the pianist had indicated.

I have a different opinion here.

Above is only addressed one aspect of prepping: action or touch prepping. But prepping means much more than that as BoseEric also explained: it's about 'tone' tweakind (voicing, string, hammer alignment ..) AND 'touch' tweaking (action regulation).
Agreed that novices will often have difficulties to tell the difference for the latter part but the result of the tone 'tweaking' they can simply HEAR and you do not need to be a skilled musician for that. And it is also not about the amount of time that is spent to it - expressed in hours - it is equally also about how well the job is done. So it will take some time but not necessarily an inordinate amount of time or money.

This explains also in part the success of the home brands carried by some reputable dealers like e.g. here the Cunninghams (which I personally do not know butthnat were bespoke a couple of times). A basic well built (good scale design) piano is choosen, sometimes some extra very good components are added but above all the dealer will spend himself a significant amount of time 'prepping' (as defined above: touch AND tone). Most of the novices would tell the difference between the out of the box native instrument as it comes delivered from the (often Asian) factory and the 'final home brand' offered by the dealer. This is why these instruments are often chosen by professional pianists for their personal home use.

Apart form the 'Cunninghams' there are examples from Europe too:
Veanbles & Son pianos or e.g.
Markus Hübner Pianos

Finally if prepping was not all that important why would prestige manufacturers like e.g. Bösendorfer or Steingraeber spend all tha much time prepping their instruments at the factory already?

schwammerl.

My post was meant to be about all aspects of prep work including voicing(I discussed voicing in the latter part of the post). I also discussed the quality of the work(not just the time...both are important) when I mentioned techs of "A" vs. "B" quality. I don't agree that most players can hear that much difference in tonal quality or can tell if a piano is voiced the best it can be. My example about the pianist in the basement of Steinway Hall was supposed to be an illustration of that. I did say that some pianists, of high enough skill and experience with enough pianos, could judge a general level of prep quality. Most pianists play less pianos in their lifetimes than an experienced tech might deal with in a week or a month.

I'd say some pianists can hear the difference and are willing to pay more and some can't. This is more in line with what I said that I thought some pianists could hear/feel a general level of prep. Professional pianists would probably be more likely to appreciate a high level prep than most other pianists, but they are a very small minority. If a dealer sells both their enhanced version and the unenhanced original a side by side comparison is possible.

The only way to know if someone really heard the difference would be a blind testing of the pianos involved.


But most makers don't spend so much time and neither do many dealers.

My main point is that if one was rating prep on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being just a basic tuning and fixing the most obvious mechanical problems and 10 being prep by the highest level tech with an unlimited time allowance, I think few pianists could tell the difference between say an 8 level prep vs. a 10 level prep(or choose any two levels that are close numericallly).

Even if someone liked one piano more, how would they know it's due the prep rather than just the particular piano? I tried many Masons before I finally bought one. Although all the Masons I tried were from the same dealer, my guess is they all didn't have the exact same level of prep. I really don't know. What I know was I preferred the sound/touch of the BB I bought which I think is different from knowing the level of prep that piano had received.

This subject of prep is a great one, because it plays such an important role in ones ultimate satisfaction with their piano.

A couple of points to consider:

1. Lets use the term "prep" to include both new piano preparation and the work done on a piano in the field, such as shown in the great video that started this thread. We might nitpick some of the techniques, but hats off to WKH for having the work done!

2. prep has a shelf life, to address Gregor's concern. Yes, Steingraeber (and Bosendorfer and...) spend a great deal of time and money doing final prep before shipping. But container,truck,train shipping and time in the box and warehouse and climate change all take their toll. Any high end factory technician worth their salt will immediately go over tuning/regulation/voicing when unboxing a piano, even if that same technician prepared it before boxing.

3. There are 3 different potentially conflicting criteria when considering prep:

a. the quality of the piano and its ability to demonstrate the difference in prep levels.

b. the interest of the ultimate customer to pay for the difference between 5 minutes and 16 hours of work (or anything amount in between)

c. the skill level of the technician.

The higher quality the piano, the more it will respond to time spent by a skilled technician. Also the higher the quality of the piano, the more the owner should be interested in that quality, even if it only gets used for carols at Christmas. After all, why pay for the potential and then skimp on its realization?

The technicians skill level becomes critical the higher up the quality ladder one goes. Here I'm going to make a statement some might find shocking:

Very few people, including professional pianists, know what a piano is supposed to sound like.

They may like one more than the other and they may be able to point out specific things that bother them, but a skilled technician is better qualified to determine when a piano is sounding its best. This is the reason behind the Steinway basement illustration. A technician at this level must have enough experience to be able to quickly determine the potential, the causes for an instrument not meeting its potential, and have the skill to quickly and efficiently remedy those causes. Vast experience with one brand is only partially useful when considering another brand. Yes, the mechanics are mostly the same but the subtle aspects of high level brands are more fragile.

(With typical brash bravado, I feel qualified to make such rash statements because a very significant part of my career was spent as a concert technician for Bosendorfer, traveling all over North America preparing pianos for concerts, recordings and customers; exactly the kind of work shown in the video.)

Ah yes but here comes n the difference between the 'level 1 = basic tuning and fixing the most mechnaical problems - what the majority of dealers do here) and e.g. 'level 8'!

I would be most happy with level 8 even done post delivery.

schwammerl.

I believe that the ultimate goal of piano prep is to build a foundation where high level voicing can take place. In the end, it is the voicing that distinguishes the mediocre from the sublime.

A good example of this foundational work was given in Don Manino's class on action pinning at the recent WestPac conference this past March. He reminded us that any inconsistencies in hammer pinning friction will cause problems in many other important areas: key weighting will end up less consistent, repetition springs will be set differently to compensate, and ultimately the voicing will be effected. Voicing, being at the end of the piano prep process, can mask over any number of shortcomings. Ideally, however, the voicing should not be making up for lack of consistency further back in the chain.

The challenging thing about piano work is that many of the adjustments we do are extremely subtle and, by themselves, probably would not be noticed by even the most sensitive of talented musicians. However, even though many of the individual adjustments are below the level of perception, when you layer several of them on top of one another, real noticeable differences become apparent.

The irony of piano work is if you do everything extremely well, the piano begins to become transparent - so in many ways the goal is for the piano to not be noticed! Any discrepancies or distractions from the instrument will pull the player out of what I call "the Zone". It is that wonderful space where just the musician and her music exist.

Was there ever a 2nd video made and posted of this job?

Found it!

https://vimeo.com/23079369