Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum Partial versus Full Regulation

My Piano Tech quoted me prices for a Partial regulation, which consists of only adjusting hammer height and hammer spacing, or Full regulation in which all of the moving parts of the action are individually adjusted. The quoted price for the former is about half the price of the latter. My piano is a 10 year old Estonia 190 that has (gasp!) never been regulated. Over these years, my repertoire has grown to include such pieces as Un Sospiro and Scriabin's Etude in D-sharp minor.

The question is will I likely notice a significant difference between the Partial and Full Regulation. Since, for me, piano is a hobby not a profession, I'm not looking for subtle relative improvements.

I well realize this question is a difficult one to respond to given that, among other missing information, my self-characterization is so vague. But maybe someone can give me a reasonably definitive answer anyway. In any case, any help here would be much appreciated.

Go for the full regulation. I would be hard-pressed to justify only hammer height and hammer spacing under any circumstances.

+1

It's analogous to taking your car in for a tune-up and only getting the belts replaced.

Take care of your piano and get the full regulation done on it. Adjusting hammer height and hammer spacing is not going to give you much, if any satisfaction in terms of truly regulating the action on your fine piano. A well-regulated piano is really what will allow you to connect to the music and your piano. You will probably benefit from having it voiced, too - especially after a 10 year wait.

Much thanks, BDB and Inlanding! That's exactly what I'll do. (I was leaning that way, but your posts gave me the shove I needed

10 years...never having had even a post break-in regulation, means your piano is running at somewhere around 50% of its potential. Aspects of your repertoire, and I would go as far as to say technically frustrating parts of your repertoire, may, become somewhat to significantly easier to pull off. This because the machinery of the action is not being allowed to help you. Then there is the pleasure of having all the keys react consistently under your fingers, rather than your brain doing an amazing job of compensating, or rather guessing what each key will feel like as you try to negotiate your music.

A really well regulated action is just downright fun to play. It makes playing your instrument more of a duet. An unregulated piano is not a duet...it is more like walking a head strong dog.

10 yrs...with never being regulated...geesh...how hard is it to play pp or ppp?

The danger here is that until you have a really fine regulation, which includes tone regulation, you don't know what you are missing. This could lead you down the slippery slope to paying attention to what your piano is giving you. Paying attention to what your piano can or could give you will not only make it more fun to play, but will make you a better pianist.

Jim Ialeggio

I don't mean to bash your tech, because I know how easily things can be mistranslated by clients. That's my disclaimer...

Taking what you said at face value, I would highly recommend getting a second opinion. Not because your piano couldn't benefit from a full regulation, but the idea of selling a "partial regulation" that includes hammer height and spacing doesn't sound good, especially if its half the price a "full regulation". If this is a technicians idea of a partial regulation, I would be very concerned about what his/her full regulation looks like.

I do a lot of partial regulating as part of in-home service. One of the most basic adjustments, and one that makes the biggest difference to the player is the let-off. If I can't get the let-off as close as I want, I may choose to raise the hammer line to get the proper touch. I would also want to adjust the hammer drop if I set the let off. A partial regulation would probably also include roughing in the keydip. Checking is another thing that can be roughed in quickly sometimes.

But just hammer height and key spacing is so very minimal, it makes me question the technicians sensibilities. The caveat, of course, is that you are fairly representing his/her recommendations.

The price will be a general indication of how thorough and experienced the technician is. A full regulation can easily run $1200, and can run 12 hours or more, depending on how out-of-whack the action is. If your bid for full regulation is far below that, I would be cautious, because, most likely something is being overlooked, or not addressed.

I tried to avoid the issue, but I agree with Ryan. The way to economize on regulation is to loosen tolerances, not cut back on what adjustments are made. Very few people will feel the difference if a measurement is off by a tiny fraction of an inch or millimeter, but you just cannot take care of a few things, and leave other things wildly off.

Technicians sometimes get themselves in the position of a customer misunderstanding about what problems the service offered is to remedy.

A ten year old regularly played grand will certainly play much better when completely regulated. In these kind of jobs I also look very carefully at the condition of the key-bushings and action centers. Many can sound and play better than new with new, very precisely done key-bushings, precise hammer pinning, and hammer shaping.

I appreciate the additional inputs. Reflecting back over the last ten years, I might very well have had a regulation. But it would have been at most one and in the earlier part of those ten years. I've just been so busy with other matters (mainly business) that I'm just not sure.

In any case, I've moved in the interim, so I have a new tech. He does have considerable experience, but mainly as a tech for a well known NYC based piano distributor. I managed to persuade him to service my piano and, maybe because of his inexperience in dealing with customers directly, he thought it appropriate to give me a cheaper option. At the same time, some of you have mentioned better alternatives he might have proposed. Yes, that doesn't exactly give me the greatest confidence in what he will deliver. Meanwhile, he's removed the entire action and has taken it to the shop where he works to perform the regulation.

Regarding the easing of technique issues, I do relate to your comments. I know I've struggled longer than I should have with certain knotty passages. One prime example is the four-fingered trill in the next to last measure of Chopin's Nocturne in E-flat. To achieve the feathery touch required has taken me considerably longer than it should have. There are numerous other examples. Your comments make me that much more anxious to get the regulated piano back.

Much thanks again.