Lee Piano Service                                   Servicing                                the Greater Phoenix Area.

Because of the amount of time your piano is in use and because ear training is such an important aspect of any musical education, your piano may require more tunings annually than other pianos. Your piano may also be used to make audition tapes for student scholarship competitions where impeccable intonation is vital for your students to sound their best.

The variations in the relative humidity of a studio or home are generally the most important criteria in determining how often a piano needs to be tuned. Normal homes may experience fairly drastic changes from season to season. Your situation is complicated by constant use which tends to deteriorate a tuning more quickly. A piano functions best under consistent conditions which are neither too wet nor dry, optimally at a temperature of 68 degrees Fahrenheit and 42 percent relative humidity.

You can reduce the severity of these climatic effects by placing your piano in the room so that it is away from windows or doors which are opened frequently. Avoid heating and air conditioning vents, fireplaces, and areas receiving direct sunlight.

While manufacturers' recommendations on the number of annual tunings vary, they generally agree that a piano should be tuned at least two to four times each year, with additional tunings as needed." (PTG, 2005)

     As a pianist I can not reiterate the importance of having a piano do what it is capable of if it can not, then I am fighting a losing battle. There are simple guidelines that we can follow if we just take the trouble to learn a little bit of the mechanics of this wonderful machine which has remained the same for over 100 years.

If the keys feel mushy when pressing the key down, it might mean that the keyframe has not been properly bedded. This is a critical point to check because it can give false readings with other regulation problems if this problem isn’t addressed first.

There are some measurements which may vary from instrument to instrument so I will give general specifications the technicians use. Key dip is the distance the key moves down. If it is deeper than 3/8 of an inch or 10.5 mm from the top of the ivory to the deepest point on most grand pianos it is too much. The distance of the ebony key when pressed down should be about the size of a nickel over the adjacent ivory key. Hammer blow distance is the space between the hammers at rest and the underside of the string. This generally is 47mm or 1 7/8 inches. You can make a little gauge out of a coat hanger to test your piano’s blow distance. Then just have to technician adjust it or learn how to do it yourself. Key height is generally 2 ½ inches from the base of the key frame to the underside of the keytop. This is longer on larger grands.

These specs are general which the technician should know, they can vary from the size of the instrument, but not by much, for example small spinet pianos have a hammer blow distance of less than 1 7/8 inches and this dip should be just under 3/8 of an inch.

Too often we notice that the action his very heavy, it can feel like a concert grand even though it may be a fetal baby grand. This is an indication that something is wrong. Generally speaking, the smaller the piano the lighter the touch. Older pianos also have a lighter touch, requiring less pressure to produce a sound. This is because the parts i.e. hammers, shanks ,flanges and wippens are lighter than modern ones. Technicians call this gauge of touch, down weight. Touchweight analysis is a new buzzword that piano technicians call the mapping of piano action responsiveness. One very prominent jazz and classical pianist, Keith Jarrett had to stop his career due to chronic fatigue syndrome. His piano was too hard to play so he stopped recording his playing for several years. It was only after his technician altered his pianos action geometry, reduced hammer weight and removed friction that his piano was more comfortable for him to play. Now he has a more responsive piano and his improvisation has matured in a way due to the forced simplicity caused by physical limitations.

Action center friction can cause more resistance and increase the down weight. Older Steinway pianos used to get a green rust in their action centers, it is called Verdigris. Verdigris causes too much resistance and the only permanent solution to this problem is to have the action centers reamed slightly to remove the verdigris and have the center pin replaced. Most technicians opt to replace the parts with new ones rather than to go through the work of rebuilding the failing parts.

Grand Hammer flanges may be stiff, they should freely swing about seven times on their own. Tight hammer flanges causes resistance and repetition problems. If you have the technician remove the stack from the keys and gently twist it in a vertical position about 45°, you can watch the hammers follow the moving stack, and the sluggish ones can easily be identified. Hammers should be aligned to all three strings when the hammer is touching the string on the underside. On some grand pianos, when the una corda (left) pedal is pressed, only two strings are hit by the hammer. This causes less volume, but if the hammer moves to far with the una corda pedal, two notes can be heard because the neighbor string is being hit. Either the hammer flange will have to be moved with a hammer flange spacer, or the flange screw will have to be loosened to be adjusted and aligned under the three strings. If it is consitant that the adjacent note is being heard when using the una corda pedal in several notes and if the hammer is properly aligned under the three strings, then an adjustment can be made in the right cheek block. This prevents the left pedal from moving the string to the adjacent one. When repeating the notes sometimes a hammer can hang and the note will not sound. A cause of this may be that the jack is escaping too soon and not returning to the spot under the knuckle from where it should be at rest. By moving the jack, so that it is more under the wippen this problem can be eradicated. Lost motion is the empty space the key moves down before any of the hammers move. The key should not have more down more than 1/16 inch play before the jack moves. After 1/2 of the hammer blow distance is covered the dampers should be engaged. Having the dampers lift too soon causes more resistance and more touchweight. When the drop screw meets the repetition lever and the jack tender meets the let off button it causes a click. The click can be too pronounced if hammers are too low.

"Your piano also may require periodic voicing. The process of voicing can adjust the relative brilliance of a piano and provide an even gradation of volume and tone over the entire range of the keyboard. Voicing procedures may involve reshaping the hammers, the use of needles on the hammer felt and/or the application of special softeners or hardeners in order to produce the best sound possible. You should discuss with your technician what changes in your piano's tone are practical and together, decide what steps should be taken to effect these changes.

Although you may have your piano tuned regularly, you must specifically request regulation or voicing procedures. These procedures aren't included in a normal tuning. It should also be noted that voicing can only be accomplished after a piano has been freshly tuned."(PTG,2005)

If one does not have a mentor, the best solution is to go to a Piano Technology school, i.e. North Bennett School in Boston, Western Ontario University, Chicago School of Piano Technology. This profession is not uncommon for the blind and there is even a school for that at, Emil Fries School of Piano Tuning for the Blind.

A good correspondence course is Randy Potter School of Piano Technology. There are also the tapes of my mentor, Jim Coleman Sr.who has many tapes available, some are included in Randy Potter's course. Mr. Coleman does give private lessons and has trained some of the finest technicians here in the valley of the sun.

What is a Precision Touch Design? Stanwood studied the touch designs of many pianos and correlated the data with pianist opinions. From these studies he developed idealized touch design specifications in a variety of standard or customized design configurations which he calls "Precision TouchDesigns®. Stanwood Precision TouchDesigns® may be used to reconfigure the touch of any grand piano thereby creating a degree of perfect touch and tone that is higher than any achieved before."(Stanwood, 2005}

Although Mr. Lee is not a certified Touchweight Design Specialist, he does have the weighing jig and has modified a few actions.