<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Re: Specs / Grand Regulation</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"> <BLOCKQUOTE>Richard Brekne ... Thank you for your excellent explanation. I do not disagree with you and respect your opinion very much. Indeed... in the end we mean just the same. How could it be any different after all those years? Antares   Clark Sprague wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE>List:  Muchas Gracias to Antares, who said volumes for all= of the non-experts out there, who are looking to the "experts" for advice on how to = improve our skills.  We want to be as good as we can be, and we need your help. &n= bsp;Thanks! Clark Sprague </BLOCKQUOTE>Hmmm.. So we are going to be going back and forth a bit on thi= s on. As usual, we end up talking about several things at the same time so I= 'll try to address the main points as I see them. Number 1. To all those "newbies" out there who are looking to thi= s list for help I have the following bit of advice. Start building yourself = a library of reference books. And above all, read them and re-read them. Whe= n you have time and opportunity sit with an action and a good chapter on gra= nd regulation, and observe what happens as you step through the proceedure. = Go to any and all classes you can on any subject about tuning and regulating= . You may hear many things over and over, but there is always some new tidbi= t or perspective that can be helpfull at these things. If you are in Canada = and America then find you nearest RPT and get some instruction, at least fro= m time to time. Not every RPT is a concert level tech, but all of them are c= lever enough to be of great help to someone just starting out. All this being said, you must understand this. No amount of literature, adv= ice, or instruction is going to be of much help Until you begin to bu= ild and understanding of how the action works. There are no shortcuts to kno= wledge and experience. If you are going to get good, then it is you w= ho are going to be doing the getting. It is'nt always easy to avoid confusio= n, and it can be frustrating to try and find and assimilate knowledge (more = on that below). But stay with it and you will get there. Number 2. With regard to the apparent difference of opinion between Antares= and myself (at least). We two probably are not all that far apart in the en= d. At least previous discussions I have had with specs guys always end up in= us finding out that we agree on more then we disagree. I view this buisness= of grand regulations as being parted into two main schools. Which I loosely= refer to the specs guys, and the non-specs guys. One approach I see a lot o= f techs, including RPT's use is to bring out their measuring devices, and me= ticiously set each point of regulation to specs. Often enough the result of = such a method is that the action plays like a mac truck. Regulating proceedu= res written down by factories rarely include setting things like action spre= ad, checking basic action geometry and the like. If those are not very</I= > correct relative to the specs you are using, the specs wont work. Where as= the non - specs approach can always achieve a very satisfactory resu= lt because its nature is basically to accept the present geometry for what i= t is, and make it work. This can be of course misused too. One can take too = many things for granted for sure. In the end tho the best regulations are a = result of a kind of synthesis of these two approaches and rely on a well dev= eloped understanding of how the action works. Either way.. understanding is = the key. One other point.. Books.. I have always been amazed by how difficult it is = to find good, easy to review and procur, technical books. There are few in p= rint. So a few points of advice. The easiest one is to get ahold of is the R= eblitz book, which is a good book, but is short and in the end only one book= . Get it tho if you dont have it. Secondly start collecting action regulatin= g proceedures available for just about every make of grand. Dealerships ofte= n enough have them laying around or can order them. Third go to the conventi= ons you can and take care of every piece of literature you get as part of a = class, or get just handed to you. Lastly there are a few internet related si= tes, like Randi Potters. I have no knowledge of the quality of his material,= but plenty of folks over there do, talk to them and get their recommendatio= ns about what books or videos to buy. And as a suggestion to the PTG, It wou= ld be nice of you guys to include a page on your site that lists every book = relative to piano work available and to work at developing this page as a re= source center for new and old techs alike. Just my opinion. I doooo hope this clears up things a bit. Richard Brekne </BLOCKQUOTE> </BODY> </HTML>