My answer to you about Steinway regulation

Richard Brekne richardb@c2i.net
Mon, 17 May 1999 21:59:26 +0200


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Antares wrote:

> Dear colleagues,
>
> my answer to al this is :
>
> Here is a colleague who asks advice about the regulation of a Steinway
> grand.
> To me, it seems, that when a colleague asks for advice about the regulation
> of a Steinway, he/she obviously doesn't have enough experience
> yet...otherwise there would be no questions about it on the list.
> So wouldn't it be quite normal to, in the first place, refer to an excellent
> service manual that has been written by Max Matthias, a Steinway expert?

Yes yes yes.. No problem recommending him to look up specs, but it seems to me he
already had the specs. Further he called Steinway and they didnt offer any help..
Sure by all means he should get the book if he doesnt already have it. . Great
reference material, no doubt about it. For that matter there are several other
books he should get ahold of.


>
> To me it seems unwise to talk about a refined touch when the person involved
> asks about key depth? or to talk about concert tuning when somebody has been
> tuning for maybe a couple of years?.....

How is this unwise ?? what harm can he do ?? Who refered to concert level tunings
?? In my opionion the sooner one starts the journey towards understanding how
action regulation points intereact the better. He risks nothing and has
everything to gain.

I mean ...  the fellow has an older "L" of unknown quality. He has applied the
correct specs for keydip, then hammer to string distance in some fashion that
didnt seem to add up to me. But his numbers were correct. This tells me he needs
to understand whats going on. It doesnt tell me he needs to strip down the entire
action and reorient it to origional factory specs, if indeed that would be
possible at all given the possible wear and tear factor here. So as I stated in
my origional reply.. I beg to differ..

If  I interperted your note in a stronger fashion then it was meant then,, well
hey.. sorry.. grin. but re-read it yourself

and I quote

This instrument needs a normal Steinway regulation.
With normal I mean that Steinway has  Steinway specifications, weights and
measures for every part and every regulation procedure like: Key dip - hammer
alignment - hammer travel - hammer spacing -  let off -
hammer drop - back check - springs - hammer blow - key frame, and all the
numerous other things we have to do in order to make a beautiful touch and
tone.

Again, to obtain these data one should buy the Steinway manual. If one doesn't,
then it is like trying to drive a car without  driving lessons, usually
resulting in a car accident and possibly a wreck.

Seems a bit er... strongly worded to me, specially that last part, but perhaps I
misread. In anycase whats the big deal. At worst we disagree,. <grin> and thats
cool enough.

Richard Brekne


>
>
> >From: Antares <antares@EURONET.NL>
>
> >>
> >> >
> >> >>I am a new piano tech and I am regulating my 1964 Steinway Model L
> >before
> >> >I
> >> >>sell it. The key dip is 11/32 when it should be 13/32 but the hammer
> >blow
> >> >>distance is   1 15/16 instead of 1 3/4. If I adjust the dip properly the
> >> >blow
> >> >>distance will be even larger or it will have too much after touch and if
> >I
> >> >>adjust the blow distance properly the key dip will be even less. The
> >piano
> >> >>plays well although I remember it always felt "shallow" even though I
> >liked
> >> >>that at the time.Any ideas as to what to do? I called Steinway and they
> >> >were
> >> >>no help.
> >> >>Thanks
> >> >>Larry Trop  in Orange County, CA
> >> >>

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