Thank you for explaining it in depth. I have a 1917 upright that I'm just about to embark on rebuilding the entire key bed and keys. I've never done it before and I am looking forward to the rebirth when i'm done. But until your video, I really had a very limited view of just exactly how to do this. I had a mentor many years ago who "over explained" things and I really appreciated the extra information and the in depth training I got from him. You can never over explain anything when it comes to piano tech. I'm a sponge.
interesting the way you put balance rail punching on and off, I take off the whippen for the key I need to raise or lower and then raise the key to get to the punchings. Once the punching has been added or removed, I put the whippen back and check it out.
We unfortunately live in an area where we don't have piano tuner/technicians. We are too far out in the country. There was one that was an hour from us. He came and said he needed to adjust the key heights of my baby grand. It took him 3 hours and afterward he said we would need to play it before it would settle. No problem for my son who is an advanced pianist. But it has been over a year and it has not "settled" and it is nearly unplayable. I have thought about calling him back to fix what he did but I am afraid to have him come back and make it even worse. Sadly, I don't think he knew what he was doing. And, it costs a fortune to have someone come out to us. Now, I don't remember him pulling out the keys/stack like you did at all. He did take off the front panel. Now the keys no longer have a let off (I am not sure what to call it), say when you slow press a key all the way down and there is a moment at the end where the hammer drops back a little bit like it released. I hope what I am saying makes sense! And the keys feel very spongy. Is it possible he just added the large rings/punchings to the front and didn't do anything with the smaller back rings? Measuring from the wood to the top of the key is about 19mm. So that seems in range, but something is definitely not right, and now some keys you have to push really hard to make them play. Its not good. How bad of an idea is it for me to try to fix this myself? Lol! Tempted to go in and remove some of the punchings in the front. I would be happy just to have it back to the way it was before.
Hi Jim long story short...I dismantled an Amherst upright to move it...more than dismantled....in the process..my "assistant" father I law vacuumed up a felt and some paper punchings..that's fine retrieved the felt...now I know what to do with punchings...but....the shims from under the ...key bed.. were gathered up indiscriminately...I'm not happy and could use(need) a centerline or setpoint to start from to level the bed...can you help?....I briefly watch some of your videos before writting this..omg I'm excited to go become a RUclips certified hobbiest piano tech lol.
Hahaha, been there! Sorry for you, but it really isn’t too hard. Here’s a long answer, and my vertical regulation eBook goes into more detail, but I hope the following helps. Two steps: First, you must determine the proper key height. If you didn’t suck up too many punchings with the vacuum, see where most of the keys are (height) and that may be the best place to start. Most manufacturers have a spec and that’s a good start if you need to begin from scratch. If you can’t find that, measure from the top of the keyslip (the board right in front of the keys) to the top of the key. (Ivory or plastic keytop) This should be between 17 and 21mm. More importantly, the key must not be so high that you can see under the key, or that it hits the fallboard or case parts when assembled. The key height can be raised by actually raising the balance rail (raiding/shimming under the 4 rail by loosening the 4 screws) but hopefully you have paper punchings. Also, set a sample key! Make this work before doing all the keys. In your sample try to have at least one cardboard punchings and 2 or 3 paper punchings under the felt (cloth) punching of the balance rail. Under your sample note try to have at least one cardboard punching and 2 or 3 paper punchings (this makes it easy to make minor adjustments) under the front rail cloth punching. Then start by making the dip (the travel of the key at the front) at 10mm. With the balance rail height set, and the dip at 10mm (+/- .2mm) here is the way the to achieve the best performance: Measure blow distance (distance from the hammer head at rest to the string) move the hammer rest rail forward by adding a rubber mute at one of the brackets, and starting at about 45mm blow, check the aftertouch of the key by playing a medium loud blow (mf). Hold the note down, then look at the hammer butt and the Jack should be about 1/32” away from the butt. This is a very general rule, but this is very close to being perfect for most upright pianos. When you make this sample work, the piano has now “told you” what to do. Now, I know that was a long answer and maybe hard to understand, so I’ll summarize: On a sample key: Set key height. Set dip to around 10mm. Set blow to about 45mm play a mf note and see that there is 1/32” between the Jack and hammer butt. Between dip/blow/letoff minor adjustments you should help you discover the optimal regulation for the piano. Hope that helps! Regulation is actually very simple, but at first it can seem daunting. Good luck!
Buenos días Maestro es un gusto escucharlo de la forma clara de todas sus explicaciones soy técnico en la reparación restauración de pianos ....me interesaría por gentileza conseguir poder ver un tutorial de la manera que se enfieltra una martillera mi intención es enfieltrar..los martillos sin tener que descabezarlo agraderia cualquier información del mismo ..... muchas gracias Juan harey Soy de buenos Aires ARGENTINA
@@jbuzz8853 thanks for your reply! I will check into that and get one! Thank you so much for your videos. This could at a very minimum half my keybed leveling time.
![Oscar Maydon x Fuerza Regida - Tu Boda [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/_ymicn0_GYc/mqdefault.jpg)
Thank you for explaining it in depth. I have a 1917 upright that I'm just about to embark on rebuilding the entire key bed and keys. I've never done it before and I am looking forward to the rebirth when i'm done. But until your video, I really had a very limited view of just exactly how to do this. I had a mentor many years ago who "over explained" things and I really appreciated the extra information and the in depth training I got from him. You can never over explain anything when it comes to piano tech. I'm a sponge.
My experience is leveling keys can be quite challenging so glad you gave some good tips!
Found some new videos to binge watch. Thank you
So much Gold in this Video, thankyou!
Thanks Gavin!
interesting the way you put balance rail punching on and off, I take off the whippen for the key I need to raise or lower and then raise the key to get to the punchings. Once the punching has been added or removed, I put the whippen back and check it out.
thank you for being so generous with your knowledge - this is so helpful!!
excellent tutorial! I love your videos, Thank you!
Absolutely brilliant! Thank you
Always learn from you
Look at the hammers when tapping the straight edge onto the keys, not the key. Some nice tips brother Jim.
Great tip! Thanks!
Even for uprights?
@@ElikemTheTuner Yes, as long as the capstans are properly adjusted...which they should be if levelling keys!
We unfortunately live in an area where we don't have piano tuner/technicians. We are too far out in the country. There was one that was an hour from us. He came and said he needed to adjust the key heights of my baby grand. It took him 3 hours and afterward he said we would need to play it before it would settle. No problem for my son who is an advanced pianist. But it has been over a year and it has not "settled" and it is nearly unplayable. I have thought about calling him back to fix what he did but I am afraid to have him come back and make it even worse. Sadly, I don't think he knew what he was doing. And, it costs a fortune to have someone come out to us. Now, I don't remember him pulling out the keys/stack like you did at all. He did take off the front panel. Now the keys no longer have a let off (I am not sure what to call it), say when you slow press a key all the way down and there is a moment at the end where the hammer drops back a little bit like it released. I hope what I am saying makes sense! And the keys feel very spongy. Is it possible he just added the large rings/punchings to the front and didn't do anything with the smaller back rings? Measuring from the wood to the top of the key is about 19mm. So that seems in range, but something is definitely not right, and now some keys you have to push really hard to make them play. Its not good. How bad of an idea is it for me to try to fix this myself? Lol! Tempted to go in and remove some of the punchings in the front. I would be happy just to have it back to the way it was before.
Hi Jim long story short...I dismantled an Amherst upright to move it...more than dismantled....in the process..my "assistant" father I law vacuumed up a felt and some paper punchings..that's fine retrieved the felt...now I know what to do with punchings...but....the shims from under the ...key bed.. were gathered up indiscriminately...I'm not happy and could use(need) a centerline or setpoint to start from to level the bed...can you help?....I briefly watch some of your videos before writting this..omg I'm excited to go become a RUclips certified hobbiest piano tech lol.
Hahaha, been there! Sorry for you, but it really isn’t too hard. Here’s a long answer, and my vertical regulation eBook goes into more detail, but I hope the following helps.
Two steps: First, you must determine the proper key height. If you didn’t suck up too many punchings with the vacuum, see where most of the keys are (height) and that may be the best place to start. Most manufacturers have a spec and that’s a good start if you need to begin from scratch. If you can’t find that, measure from the top of the keyslip (the board right in front of the keys) to the top of the key. (Ivory or plastic keytop) This should be between 17 and 21mm. More importantly, the key must not be so high that you can see under the key, or that it hits the fallboard or case parts when assembled. The key height can be raised by actually raising the balance rail (raiding/shimming under the 4 rail by loosening the 4 screws) but hopefully you have paper punchings.
Also, set a sample key! Make this work before doing all the keys. In your sample try to have at least one cardboard punchings and 2 or 3 paper punchings under the felt (cloth) punching of the balance rail.
Under your sample note try to have at least one cardboard punching and 2 or 3 paper punchings (this makes it easy to make minor adjustments) under the front rail cloth punching. Then start by making the dip (the travel of the key at the front) at 10mm. With the balance rail height set, and the dip at 10mm (+/- .2mm) here is the way the to achieve the best performance:
Measure blow distance (distance from the hammer head at rest to the string) move the hammer rest rail forward by adding a rubber mute at one of the brackets, and starting at about 45mm blow, check the aftertouch of the key by playing a medium loud blow (mf). Hold the note down, then look at the hammer butt and the Jack should be about 1/32” away from the butt. This is a very general rule, but this is very close to being perfect for most upright pianos. When you make this sample work, the piano has now “told you” what to do.
Now, I know that was a long answer and maybe hard to understand, so I’ll summarize:
On a sample key: Set key height. Set dip to around 10mm. Set blow to about 45mm play a mf note and see that there is 1/32” between the Jack and hammer butt. Between dip/blow/letoff minor adjustments you should help you discover the optimal regulation for the piano.
Hope that helps! Regulation is actually very simple, but at first it can seem daunting. Good luck!
Buenos días Maestro es un gusto escucharlo de la forma clara de todas sus explicaciones soy técnico en la reparación restauración de pianos ....me interesaría por gentileza conseguir poder ver un tutorial de la manera que se enfieltra una martillera mi intención es enfieltrar..los martillos sin tener que descabezarlo agraderia cualquier información del mismo ..... muchas gracias Juan harey
Soy de buenos Aires
ARGENTINA
Thank you. What is the title of the ebook and is it on amazom? Thank you
I haven't been able to get that method to work yet. I must be missing something
Rick can’t either! I’m not that smart, but I learned how to do it. I’ll show you next month.
Where do you live?
Where do you get the long straight edge?
Wessel Nickel and Gross has the best ones on the market right now. Mine was bought years ago from a company that no longer is in business.
@@jbuzz8853 thanks for your reply! I will check into that and get one! Thank you so much for your videos. This could at a very minimum half my keybed leveling time.