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Essential Piano Definitions :

1

The
Schimmel 7-foot
"Red Diamond"
Tradition Grand

--   and   --

The
Schimmel 52-inch
"Wilhelmina"
Concert Uprignt

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We say "acoustic piano" to mean the completely physical, historical type of piano that has been around for 300 years; and, when we want to be sure not to be confused with a "keyboard", or an "electronic piano", as they are called.  Keyboards and electronic pianos are not actually pianos, even though that is often what they are called.  This confusion is due to the fact that these electronic types of instruments look like a  piano, in the sense that they have keys which look like those on an acoustic piano, but are actually organs or synthesizers that have an electronic program which makes them sound similar to an acoustic piano.

        Wikipedia - History of the Piano

'Inner  Working  Parts'

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(1)  Action, its Keys, Hammers, plus all its levers;
 
(2)  Strings — totaling 225 + strings in a small piano,
and up to over 250 in large pianos, which vibrate when struck by Hammers;
 
(3)  Pins / Pinblock, hold strings to correct pitches;

(4)  Soundboard, Bridge, the "speaker" of the piano, projecting sound, same as electronic speaker in a stereo.
 

•  The way a piano works is this:  A Piano looks like one big "thing" with 88 keys on the front of it.  A Piano is actually a beautiful cabinet with 88 physical "motors" all hooked up next to each other, with each motor doing exactly the same thing:  This is to thrust a Hammer to a String set when a key is is depressed.  Its "Pitch" and "Tone" is developed by the length of the Strings that the Hammer hits.  Once the Hammer causes the Strings to vibrate, this vibration is physically carried through the Bridge into the Soundboard, which is the physical "speaker" of the Piano that amplifies the String vibrations into the air, just like  happens in a stereo speaker.  The only difference between a Piano "Speaker" and a stereo speaker is, that a Piano Speaker operates physically, and a stereo speaker operates electronically.

"Wah-lah" — there you have it, a piano is just as simple as that — although it takes, in terms of parts and pieces, from 6000 to over 12,000 tiny, miscellaneous articles and gadgets to get the job done!

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Without this control, a piano cannot tune !!
 

When this situation occurs, if a piano is to be tuned, the pinblock has to be either repaired or "restored", or replaced.  Replacement is usually prohibitive in cost, as it requires replacing all the strings and tuning pins at the same time.  Replacement is not usually done except in concert level grand pianos, and is almost never done in upright pianos, due to the cost, that are not extremely valuable museum quality pianos.

Repair procedures to "restore" the tightness of a pinblock are almost always successful, and can be performed at a low cost. 
An experienced "RPT" (Registered Piano Technician) is usually proficient in these procedures, and some RPTs have the equipment to perform this restoration service in the home. 

An "RPT" certified Technician will also have the experience to advise you honestly if this procedure is actually appropriate to solve your piano's problem, or if a better solution would be to acquire another piano, perhaps because of overall wear or deterioration of the entire piano, in addition to this condition called "pinblock failure."

→  Note:  There is an excellent webpage anyone considering repairing or refurbishing an old piano should read in detail:  click on color thumbnail picture, mid-page:

           Antique Pianos :

www.bluebookofpianos.com/vintagepianos.html
 

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'A - 440'  or "Standard  Pitch"

"A - 440" = sound that vibrates at 440 cycles (Herz) per second. 
 

The reason for all this procedure is so that all instruments world wide will be sounding in the same key, and any or all kinds of instruments can all play together successfully.  Pianos or other instruments do not have to be tuned to this standard — but they are tuned to this standard for everyone's convenience, for most all music performances, and by all types of musicians. 
 

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'Pitch  Raise'

The need for pitch raises on pianos is due to the fact that a piano is always going flat because of the very way pianos are made — a piano is a physical machine, and has no means, such as electronic motors or other automatic devices, to change its pitch.  A physical procedure is necessary to do anything regarding an acoustic piano, including playing it!

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'Humidity  Control'

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Pianos are known to be "safe" from low humidity atmospheric damage if the humidity level is kept above 30% RH in the air surrounding it.  Pianos can usually tolerate high humidity conditions, even 70% RH or above, without structural damage, but pianos often begin failing progressively when located where humidity levels drop below 30% RH for any length of time.  Setting an automatic humidifier at 35+% RH virtually solves low humidity protection problems.

To control high humidity conditions, or conditions where the humidity or temperature conditions are variable all the time, the Dampp-Chaser system is the only solution - see below.

Please note:  the Dampp-Chaser climate control system is the best, although the most expensive to purchase yet the least expensive to operate, long-term solution to control all types of weather temperature or humidity conditions that affect pianos — see information below.  The total conditioning obtained by using a Dampp-Chaser system also protects and preserves tuning, thus tunings will last much longer using a total climate control system like the Dampp-Chaser.

To control low humidity conditions, an area humidifier does a completely acceptable job of protecting a piano.  But it does not, and cannot, help preserve tuning duration and stability as does the Dampp-Chaser climate control system, because an area humidifier is only able to control the humidity factor of air surrounding the piano, and has no way to control the temperature factor involved in preserving both piano tuning and piano tonal qualities.

Another method of humidity control is to install a humidity control system into your household air-conditioning system.  This method is the most expensive, but adds additional benefits at no extra cost of providing comfort and protection to all the people who live in the house with a piano, as well as to all the contents of the house, including furniture, cabinets, house structure, and to other valuable possessions you might own such as other musical instruments, antiques, historical books and libraries or similar treasures, etc.  Please note, however, that household humidity systems are "protective" only, and only accomplish the same purpose as area humidifiers already mentioned above — they cannot accomplish the tuning and tonal benefits provided by a piano climate control system such as the Dampp-Chaser system described below and in the "Climate Control" section of this website (click tab at top of this page). If budget is no problem, the perfect solution is to install a household humidity control for all the reasons mentioned here, as well as the Dampp-Chaser system in the piano itself to develop both the ultimate care factor and ultimate performance capability for the piano.
 

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HUMIDIFIER sources  —  March 2012:

Retailers now seldom carry many options for humidifiers, which forces you to order only online any specific models you might might prefer, or that were available in the past.

All of the information explained below about humidifiers remains valid, including the models suggested -- but, finding these products at the present time in retail stores may not be possible.

The best units for most purposes have always been the Moist Air 1201 at Home Depot, and the Kenmore 15412 at Sears Roebuck, plus any of the largest evaporative units from these stores -- the larger the unit, the less refilling needed.

For piano and general room use, remember to use only "evaporative" type humidifiers, and not the medical "mist" type which do not actually humidify the room's air. 

Whatever brand you choose that is "evaporative" might work well for you -- this notice is to explain that it is not possible to recommend specific models like has been possible in the past.
 

Ace Hardware now stocks some EssickAir  evaporative humidifiers (the source maker of many other brands of humidifiers, including Moist Air, Emerson, Bemis, and others, etc.), which models may serve your purpose and budget.
 

Note:   Do not rely on website information completely for purchase information or purchase decisions.  This is why these lists below are provided.  Sometimes stores will not stock what is on a website, or will stock items that are not on the public side of a website.  All stores will usually bring an item to your closest location if they are out of stock, or if it is available on their company "ordering" website (but not the public site).
 

Home Depot and Sears Roebuck are consistently good sources for humidifiers with built-in humidistats, are locations which stock quality products, and stock availability of filters.
 

All products listed below are acceptable humidifiers — understand that the larger the unit, the more quietly it can operate, and the less refilling of water is needed. All are "evaporative" design.
 

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Ace  Hardware

Size:

Manufacturer:

Model #:

Ace Hardware now carries a few Essick products -- an industry standard.  Any model or size is OK, but choose "evaporative" design in size you need 

Water Additive #:  EssickAir 1970 Bacteriostat treatment

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*

Water Additive:  All evaporative humidifiers can use
"Humidi-TREAT", or EssickAir  #1970 Bacteriostat treatment
from ACE Hardware  — or, Sears also has equivalent —
or, other bacteriostat type product for odor and scale control

Sears

±

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Water Additive:  All evaporative humidifiers can use
"Humidi-TREAT", or EssickAir  #1970 Bacteriostat treatment from ACE Hardware  — or, Sears also has equivalent — or, other bacteriostat type product for odor and scale control

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'Dampp-Chaser'

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More information can be found both on this Website, by clicking the 'Climate Control" tab above, then by clicking on the corporate links in that section.  Click here for pictures.

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— each serves a different purpose:
 

•   or, when "Standard Pitch" level of "A-440"
             is needed, so piano can play with
             electronic keyboards, CDs,
             or other musical instruments          

(1)  Restores pitch level to A-440 —
              and re-establishes a temperament
(2)  Installs "Set-up Tuning" at A-440 —
              fine tunes new temperament

— Both procedures are done in one session;
            requires 2 hours or more at the piano
 

2)  "Set-up Tuning", also called
           "Fine Tuning", or just "Tuning"
 

Note, that when a piano is so far out of tune that its temperament must be restored, or a pitch change up or down is needed, a "Set-up Tuning" alone will not work properly, and the "Remedial Tuning" tuning procedures above must be used if you expect worth-while results. 

An acoustic piano MUST BE either tuned at its
existing pitch level, or restored to another pitch level with a "remedial tuning" if the change is more than
4-% higher or lower --

Otherwise, it WILL NOT RETAIN a new tuning well at all, and will simply go out of tune again.
 

— The "Set-up Tuning" procedure alone
          requires up to 1:30 time at the piano
 

3)  "Maintenance Tuning" only,
              or just a "Regular Tuning"
 

— The "Maintenance Tuning" procedure requires
          about 1 hour at the piano
 

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This "Tension Adjustment" or "Pitch Raise" procedure is mandatory when a piano's pitch level needs changing more than 4-% higher / lower than the piano is found to be at the time of a new tuning.  Otherwise, if an acoustical piano is simply tuned at a new pitch level exceeding this 4-% parameter higher or lower than its existing pitch level, the new tuning will invariably become unstable, not durable, and will fade away earlier than necessary, in a degree depending on the amount of pitch change beyond this 4-% limit.  

Click here for the definitions of Pitch Raise and A - 440 to see why or when you might want or need to have this "pitch raise" style of tuning.
 

"Set-up" style tuning:  

A new "Set-Up"  or "Fine" tuning is always needed when a piano has not had regular calendar-based maintenance before a new tuning, and therefore does not have a basically correct tuning already in place at the time of the new tuning.  It is also the style tuning used the first time a Registered Piano Technician works on a piano, and the tuning which follows the "Tension Adjustment" or "Pitch Raise" procedure above.
    
This "Set-Up Tuning" is a complex procedure which, first, includes measuring a piano's existing pitch level at the time of tuning; and, second, involves measuring the piano's individual acoustical properties in order to develop a musical temperament unique to that particular piano's tonal characteristics; and, third, installs this temperament by adjusting string tensions in an extra forceful manner, in order to "set" the tuning pins and strings very precisely and firmly to give the tuning its best possible stability and duration. 

This Set-Up procedure takes about 25% longer than a periodic, or "maintenance" tuning.      
 
A piano simply will not hold a new tuning well  that is not set up  right in the first place — and, you will wonder when a new tuning fades quickly why you paid a technician some bargain price to do a cheap, quick tuning for you — but, if that should happen to you, now you know  what happened, and why!
 

A procedure which is a calendar-based tuning following a Set-up tuning, a Pitch Raise tuning, or a Maintenance tuning performed within the previous 6 months.  It is a faster procedure, requiring less time, because these types of previous tunings will still be basically in place inside of 6 months. The Maintenance tuning gives attention mainly to re-setting the "unisons", refining the existing temperament, and does not need to address as much re-setting of the pin positions as a "Set-up Tuning".
 
Maintenance tunings are scheduled in calendar-based periods of 30 up to 150 days.  Choice of time cycles depends on how perfectly you want or need your piano to sound daily.

Click here to go back to Tuning. 

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"Tuning" is not, by technical definition, either
"Regulation" or "Voicing" or "Repairs."
 

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'Regulation'

It is vital for a piano owner to understand that nearly all piano actions are made out of natural wood, and are susceptible to changes in temperature and humidity.  A piano action must be regulated to the climate in which the piano will operate — moving from one climate to another usually requires the re-regulation of a piano -- see my note on moving pianos in the section below "Piano Maintenance Levels".

These parts number from about 10,000 parts in an Upright Piano up to as high as 12,000 parts in a huge 10-foot Grand Piano.
 
"Regulation" refers to the adjustment of all these parts so that each note mechanism moves and performs its individual job correctly, as well as evenly and efficiently in relation to all other notes in the piano.

Regulation procedures can range from:  1) a 'touch-up' service to tweak or improve the existing settings when they are more or less correct;  and, 2) to a full regulation service that can require two days or more to complete on a performance grade piano.

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Very important:  Sometimes a piano cannot be regulated without some basic repairs!

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'Voicing'

•

Specifically, voicing is the work of upgrading the efficiency of piano string behavior, as coordinated with its hammer behavior.  Some of the procedures are the same for preparing either home or commercial pianos, but home pianos would profit very little from the advanced procedures used for commercial pianos, which involve needling and filing and shaping the hammers to meet specific tone quality goals — home piano hammers can even be ruined by applying such advanced techniques, because they were not designed for such modifications.

To pursue these voicing procedures requires that all the rest of the piano is working at a near perfect efficiency before a "voicing" routine can be useful — the regulation and tuning of a piano has to be as perfect as possible before voicing the piano can be accomplished.

The goal of voicing is first to cause the sounds of all piano notes to produce more equal tonal qualities in general, and then second to cause all these sounds to be more even in volume and intensity, while at the same time modifying the piano sounds to please the listening tastes of the listener or owner or user of the instrument.  If this sound complicated, well, it is!  But that is what voicing is all about.

Voicing is done in a general way by the manufacturers of all pianos.  The term "Concert Voicing" is a better description of the custom voicing that is done to concert venue pianos and recording studio pianos — This kind of procedure is very tedious, time consuming, and extremely expensive, and it can take sometimes many days of work by a technician to satisfy these goals of perfection that are usually required to achieve those 'perfect' piano tones demanded professionally.  The work involves countless procedures of needling, shaping, testing of hammer characteristics, as well as testing, measuring and adjusting of string positions and shapes, and repeating these procedures almost endlessly until the instrument
is as 'perfect' as it is possible to be.

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•

•

  Above quotation from:
 "The Piano...Guide for the Piano Owner" by
  Philip Gurlik, RPT, Potter Press, Bend, Oregon, ©2000.

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Most other temperaments of the past are grouped together today under the name "historical temperaments"  --  and the list of such temperaments is vast, and is a complete subject of knowledge unto itself.

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Back to "Regulation"

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Level 1 Maintenance  is needed by all acoustic pianos their entire service life.  This involves calendar-based tunings of the piano, plus incidental repairs as they are needed.

Level 2 Maintenance  is needed by all acoustic pianos from time to time, especially by new pianos about one to three years after a new piano is put into service. 

This level service usually includes cleaning and lubrication of the action mechanism, 'touch-up' of action regulation issues that might have developed, calibrating the keyboard to reduce any stiffness and friction that restricts playing the piano, and tuning the piano.

This service is also done on any piano not having this work done previously, but not yet in need of regulation or hammer work taken up in Level 3 Maintenance below.

Level 2 Maintenance is the practical, timely, "common sense" kind of service that every physical and mechanical machine needs, and which is almost always ignored.  It is a preventive maintenance, the kind that that saves money and time later, and makes a machine work pleasantly at its best while you are using it on a daily basis, just like balancing tires on a car -- a car runs so much better if it has regular tire balance and rotation, and the tires last far longer when this is done.  Touch-up Maintenance Service  takes care of any unusual or "out-of-balance" behavior of the interior action piano mechanism -- it corrects problems before they happen, so to speak. 

It gives thorough lubrication to the action mechanism before harmful dry conditions set in and cause rapid and unnecessary wear to the piano.  And it includes tuning, and is usually done at the time of a regularly scheduled tuning. This level of service can also sometimes include keyboard calibration, like Level 3 service. 

When done in a timely way, the Level 3 "Full Maintenance Service" below can usually be delayed for a time, can usually be modified or reduced in scope for less cost -- again, just like car service, all becomes less expensive when done correctly by the book.

NOTE:  Level 2 Service is appropriate and useful only when a piano has been set up and regulated correctly when new by a selling dealer before original delivery.  Otherwise, Level 3 maintenance below can be needed to correct resulting problems.

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Level 3 Maintenance can be needed by any acoustic piano at any time, depending on its condition.  A new piano can need this thorough service if it was not set up, or regulated or serviced properly when delivered new from a dealer.  A used piano that never got serviced or corrected or repaired during its life needs this desperately, if it is going to survive very long.

When Level 2 Service is ignored, Level 3 Full Maintenance Service becomes critically important in determining the service life of a piano.  The most amazing thing of all about acoustic pianos is that if they are properly serviced, lubricated and cared for on a regular basis, they truly will almost never wear out -- BUT, if they are not lubricated and cared for, they will fall apart like any other physical machine.

Level 3 Maintenance Service , or " Full Maintenance Service " is so absolutely critical to the behavior and operation of an acoustic piano that an entire section in this chapter is devoted to explaining in detail what it is all about.  These details follow just below this section,
or click here:

Full Maintenance Service

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Level 4 Maintenance is made necessary by and is usually the sad result of the common practice of ignoring Level 2 and Level 3 Maintenance Service, and, believe it or not, even Level 1 Maintenance-- sometimes acoustic pianos don't even get tuned! 

And sometimes not even played! 

But first and last, acoustic pianos are physical machines, and they act just like all physical machines, in that they go bonkers and wear out very fast when they are not lubricated and cared for.  Without Levels 1, 2, and 3 Service at appropriate times, normal routine maintenance will necessarily become "Remedial Maintenance Service" when the piano gets into really poor shape, or if it gets just plain neglected over a long period of time. 

This situation always causes extra cost to cover the additional service and repairs that could be needed to return the piano to normal working order.

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Levels 1, 2, 3 and 4 service above apply to all acoustic pianos, regardless of their use, because they are physical machines which demand this service.

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'Full  Maintenance  Service'

Note: 

Be sure to examine "Piano Maintenance Levels" above to determine what kind of service your piano might need --  Level 3 Service explained below may be too extensive for your needs!

Level 3 Service  means adjusting, lubricating and tuning all systems of a piano — these systems include as many as 12,000 parts, depending on type and model.

This term intends the meaning of maintaining all operating parts of your piano, for the purpose of enhancing their actions to perform physically as smoothly and efficiently as their design will allow, then tuning the piano's sound as clearly as its design can achieve.
 

What the procedure includes:
         

(1)  cleaning the piano, inside and out, both for cosmetics, and for the technical requirement of keeping dust and soil from interfering with lubricating its action;  DUST ACCUMULATION on the action mechanism inside a piano can be very  destructive, and cause the action to literally chew itself up like sandpaper would do!  Actions must be cleaned  periodically to prevent this.

(2)  'touch-up' regulation of the action mechanism, then lubricating this action with permanent lubricants to assist keeping these new regulation settings working correctly as long as possible.

Note:  when the need for a Full Regulation has developed, then a separate "full blown" procedure to do this has to be added here to the Level 3 service -- see the explanation of "Regulation" above for more details about this.  Full regulation is an extensive procedure, and when needed can require two days or more just to complete this one procedure, and therefore goes beyond and increases the cost of a Full Maintenance Service.

(3)  hammer service, a procedure which maintains or restores the hammers (a) to a shape similar to their original "egg-like" look, (b) removes the fuzz and extra long strike lines (developed from normal use) from the crowns of the hammers, and (c) restores a basic default style voicing quality to the hammer consistency; 

(4)  recalibration of the keyboard, which includes easing and/or adjusting all key behavior to reduce key friction to a minimum, and adds correct lubrication for the entire keyboard system;

(5)  leveling of the keys and adjusting key behaviors to their most accurate settings in relation to all the other many movements of the inner action parts; and, finally, includes

(6)  installing a fine tuning, which in most cases resets the piano's pitch level to Standard Pitch, or A440, which therefore enables you to play your piano with CDs, or play in concert with almost any other instrument that exists with ease and pleasure in listening.   

Very important:  Full Maintenance Service does not specifically include making repairs needed to allow maintaining or tuning the piano, although it does always reveal what repairs that are needed, since all working parts of the piano are examined during this procedure. 

Costs for repairs are always in addition to a maintenance service, and costs depend on the replacement cost of any parts needed plus the labor needed to perform any particular repair.
 

Full Maintenance Service is needed based on both the use of, and the age of a piano. 

High-use pianos (such as found in college music schools, or other concert venues) need this service done often and regularly to avoid excessive wear on their piano action parts. 

New Home Pianos need this service once the piano has been used and played sufficiently to be fully "broken in".  A new piano owner will know his piano needs this service when his keys (and action) start to become stiff in use and progressively hard to play -- this trait will appear from any time between 3 and 7 years of home use.  Also, the action can begin squeaking and groaning, really telling you it's time for service and lubrication!

Used piano owners nearly always need to consider having this service done, if they seriously like having a piano that plays and sounds well.  In fact, NO piano either new or used ever truly plays its best until this procedure has been done, and it will truly amaze anyone the  difference it makes in the playing and performance ability of the piano.  You are invited to read the reviews of this service on this website for owner / user reaction to the results, benefits and blessings of the procedure.

Full Maintenance always brings a "jaw dropper"
reaction every time!

For examples, go to Reviews, and look for this symbol: 

§  — next, click review numbers with this symbol

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'Piano  Maintenance  Program'
 

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'The
Piano Book'
by
Larry Fine

"The Piano Book" is literally the "Bible" in today's world for factual and unbiased information about Pianos.  Book #1 at right is the bi-Annual Supplement,  primarily used for buying new pianos.  Book #2 is the Original, a large 9x12" - 300+ page book, published over 20 years ago.  The Original is an exhaustive reference on all aspects of a piano, its history, construction, quality issues, as well as maintenance and climate issues which affect pianos.  It is quoted on this Website in the Section called "Piano Talk", under its title "The Piano Book" as an authority on the subject of tuning frequency and Climate Control Systems.  Both books are available from Bookstores or the publisher.  For more information, click:  www.pianobook.com and, www.pianobuyer.com

(1)

(2)

...bi-Annual Supplement,
subscription
about $30

...the
Original book,
large 300+pgs,
about $25

Piano Talk Index: Intro  | Guide | Definitions | Tuning Your Piano | Tuning Your New Piano | Six Month Tuning Cycle| Piano Book

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