wierd hammer line

[Farrell]

On a Samick 6' grand when the stack is pulled out and all the hammers are lifted forward, (as when examining the jack windows) I noticed that the hammer line is "all over the place"(!) I don't believe I have ever seen this unevenness! It is really un-nerving!  I mean some hammers stop way forward and others are 1" to 2" back further. I mean; its not even a smooth "wave" it looks, well... radical and...wrong. 

This is normal. It has nothing to do with regulation, but rather how the flange was machined. But this "line" isn't the hammer line - the hammer line is with the hammers at their rest position. The "line" the hammers make when lifted all the way up is meaningless.

I have been tuning pianos for 3 years, and have only done one grand regulation in that time. (People just dont ask for it.) 

Correct. That is why YOU need to educate your clients!

Piano tech school was 4 years ago for me, so I cant remember what forward hammer-line should look like and I dont own a grand piano (yet) to check it out.

             The piano is about 15 years old and also the drop screws are screwed in all unevenly (all different depths drastically unveven from adjacent neighbors). I would think that being a relatively young piano, and played maybe 2 hours a day average, that the regulation would look more even than this. The lady told me that when the piano was new she had it regulated and paid $400 to have it done. So this "regulation" isnt factory. THe only thing that looks any decent is the key leveling and the back checking. 

               Shouldnt the regulation look more even on a newer piano ie: the capstans all nearly the same height and letoff buttons and drop screws almost the same to their neighbors?

Yes, uneven drop screws and let-off dowels suggest an uneven regulation. But what you need to do is simply evaluate the regulation itself. Where is let-off set? What is drop? Blow? Aftertouch? Because of the suspected uneven regulation, check regulation criteria on many notes (especially ones with divergent drop screw and let-off dowel heights).

Terry Farrell

Thanks 
Julia Gottshall
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