Could someone please explain "voicing and regulation" of a piano to a novice player and new piano owner. Thanks.

There's a technician's forum that would yield great responses, but I think you'll get several highly qualified responses here (mine not being one of them).

Voicing relates to work done on the hammer felt which makes the felt harder or softer. This, in turn, will make the sound of the piano brighter or softer.

Regulation, I believe, relates to the action (what happens when you press the keys).

Let's both find out if I'm full of it or not!

Post below was composed as BrulBruce was posting his... So I didn't mean to repeat what he said. Nevertheless, I will leave the post in case it gives you any further insight.

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Doreen,

When a piano is voiced, the hammers (usually) are worked on to alter the sound of the piano. Typically new pianos are voiced to even out the tone; middle C might sound ok, but C# sounds wirey, bright or harsh in comparison.

Regulation has to do with the touch or action of the piano. With new pianos, the action may feel a little 'heavy'. An experienced tech can usually fix this fairly easily.

Derick

To expand on what Derick's saying, the action may also feel too "loose". Regulation would correct that(for instance excess lost motion and the capstans located at the back of the keys need to be turned up). Also such things as the proper "let off" of the hammers to the strings(when this is incorrect the hammers will block against the strings or in the opposite extreme too premature, causing a loss of power in playing.

Grands get more complicated because we need to consider the functioning of the double action via the repetition levers. If the springs are set too strong for instance, then the hammers may bounce up against the strings(esp. on softer blows.

The Yamaha Corporation makes a real science out of this through their "Little Red School House" one week workshop on grand piano regulation. Encompassing 37 steps I used to refer to it as the "Zen of grand piano regulating" because the intensity of it is akin to attending the one week Zen Sesshin retreats.

Mark Mandell
www.pianosource.com

Would I be correct in assuming that voicing or "tampering" with the felt or hammers is somewhat irreversable! If you don't like it, you're stuck, your only option being replacing felt, hammers?

Showing my ignorance here! But learning a lot!

Doreen, hope you don't mind my interjecting a question into your thread. I did think it pertinent to the topic.

It can be reversed fairly easily. In general, voicing changes should really be for 'touching up' irregularities between notes.

Most pianos today have hard hammers and require 'needling' to soften the top layer of felt to darken the note. Normal playing will compress the felt, or the hammer can be 'ironed' for more immediate brightening of the note.

Just make sure your tech isn't a hack like the one I had... New hammers cost about $2K.

Derick

$2K for hammers?? I'm going to be getting the hammers replaced on my Steinway K shortly, and my tech quoted me $850 for Abel hammers, and $1,250 for Steinway hammers, including installation and voicing. The Steinway hammers cost a bit more than the Abels, but most of the $400 difference was for an additional couple of hours voicing work--the Steinways take more time to voice properly. But the Steinway hammers were the most expensive hammers out there and required the most work to voice, and still were nowhere near $2K installed.

INCLUDING installation? Wow, that's quite a bargain - or else I paid more than I should have!

I had two techs give me quotes. Both wanted to install Abel hammers and both said $2000 to $2500.

Derick

bcarey,
Don't mind you jumping in a bit. Like you, I am learning a lot here also.
Thanks to everyone for their replies.

So, if you are placing a lot of trust in your tech to do this work, how do you know if they are doing it right? Obviously, if they shave felt off, it can't be replaced. If they put "gook" on it to harden it, it can't be taken off. I guess my question is how does an ordinary, non-tech, novice like myself know or learn enough to know the difference. How cautious should we be?

Read the Piano Forum! Seriously, that's about all you can do. You will get at least some idea from the questions and answers provided here.

Derick