Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum Is this piano regulated to factory specifications?

Dear Techs,

I am considering the purchase of a piano that the owner just had regulated.

The technician that did the work says the piano is "regulated to factory specifications".

When I played on it after the regulation I thought it was uneven.

Shouldn't a piano that has just been regulated to "factory specifications" have an even touch?

Newstead

Factory specs are only numbers on paper. Guidelines, if you will. Each piano is different, especially pianos manufactured mainly by hand. When regulating, you set up parameters that will achieve the best results for that piano.
Perhaps a full regulation was'nt performed, only a touch-up( with no regards to areas of friction). That could account for the uneveness.

Thanks Curry,

Can you explain how a piano can be regulated to factory specifications and NOT receive a full regulation?

Newstead

There are various levels of regulation. A rough regulation gets the piano close to the so called factory specifications when and if available. There are also some general or "ballpark specs" available. When talking about regulation there are really 3 main areas of regulation- the action, the pedal works and the damper system. A full regulation consists of many hours of work and covers all of these major areas. I doubt this was done in this case but it was most likely touch up regulation of such things as let off; backchecking, strike distance etc. Its hard to say what was done or not done, how accurately it was done etc. There are many specs that have to be tweaked or finely adjusted to suit a particular piano. One thing about a regulation - it can always use some improvement.
Regulation is designed to bring the piano up to its full potential and put things in proper relationship. It has many purposes such as building power, improving tone, evening out the action, improving response, improving touch and sensitivity. Over time, felts compact, action parts shift, environmental effects take a toll, playing moves things out of alignment, parts wear out etc etc. Even some very basic regulation can make a dramatic difference in a piano. If a piano has lots of wear and tear and/or needs repair it makes regulation close to impossible.

N, Jimbob covered it all.