
Introducon
7
July 2013
Piano Acon Regulaon
Thisdiscussionisnotintendedtobeacompletecourseongrandaconregulaon,butrathermayprovehelpfulinrestoringtheacontoproperperformance.Proper
alignmentofaconparts,andkeyeasingareallveryimportantstepsintheregulaonprocedure.Thefollowingprocedureassumesthatthispreliminaryworkhasbeen
checkedandperformedasnecessary.Beforeremovingtheaconfromtheaconcavity,evaluateaconregulaon.Iftheaconisnotwellregulated,properperfor‐
manceofthesystemcannotbeexpected.
DuringtheinstallaonprocessofthePNOmaonIIPlayerSystem,itisquitepossiblethataconregulaonwillbedirectlyaffected.Aporonofthekeyframeandback
railclothwillberemovedsothatthenotesolenoidplungerscancontactthekeytails.Thisoperaonmaycausethekeytailstobelowerthantheiroriginalposion.The
resultoflowerkeytailsisanincreaseinbothkeyheight,andhammerstrikedistance.Restoringthestrikedistancetospecificaonsbyturningoutthecapstanscrewsis
nottheproperremedy.Alwaysre‐workthebackrailheightsothatthekeyheightisatitsoriginalposion.
‐Arethekeyslevel?
‐Dothehammersletoff1/8inthebass,taperingto1/16inthehightreble?
‐Isthedrop1/16belowthepointoflet‐off?
‐Isthehammerlinestraight?
‐Arethehammershanksapproximatelyoneshankthicknessabovethehammerrestrail?
‐Isthereadequateaer‐touch?
Withtheacononaflat,cleanworkbench,measureandrecordthefollowing:
Naturalkeyheightatbassandtrebleends.
Sharpheightabovenaturals.
Keydip;bothnaturalsandsharps.
Theheightofthefirstandlasthammersineachseconoftheacon.
Replacethekeysandaconstackontheaconframe.Refertotheregulaonmeasurementsrecordedearliertoseeifregulaonhasbeenaffectedbythemodificaons
totheaconframe.Ifkeyheight,keylevel,orstrikedistancearedifferentthanpreviouslyrecorded,stepsmustbetakentorestoreproperregulaon.
Torestorekeyheight,replacethebackrailclothwithoneofathickerdimension.Removetheaconstackandkeys.Aerremovingtheoldbackrailcloth,besurethat
alltracesofgluehavebeenremovedfromthebackrail.Replaceafewoftheendkeysandtryvariousthicknessofbackrailcloth,withoutglue,toballparkthecorrect
keyheight.Lightfingerpressureonthecapstanscrewwillapproximatetheforcethatisnormallyonthecapstan.Setkeyheightwiththebackrailclothat,orslightly
belowthedesiredkeyheight.
Whenyouaresasfiedthatyouhavethebestchoiceofbackrailcloth,gluethematerialtothebackrail,leavingtherearedgeunglued.Nameboardfeltisavailableina
fewdifferentthicknesses,andcanbeusedforfineadjustmentswhengluedunderthebackrailcloth.
Althoughkeyheightcanbereestablishedquiteaccuratelyusingtheaboveprocedure,somekeylevelingistobeexpectedwhenreplacingbackrailcloth.
Rememberthatsubsequentaconregulaonadjustmentswillaffectthosealreadyperformed.Topreparetheaconforfineregulaon,dothefollowingquickly:
Checkorsetrepeonleverheightsoitisslightlyhigherthanthejack.Duringyourfinalregulaon,tripthejacktenderwithyourfingerandreleaseitslowly.Ifregulat‐
edproperly,youwillbeabletofeelthejackbrushingtheknuckleasitisreleased.Thejackmustreturncompletelyundertheknuckle.
Setstrikedistanceto13/4.Besurethathammershanksareabovetherestrail.
Checkorsetjackposionsothatthebackedgeofthejackisalignedwiththebackedgeoftheknucklecore.
Setlet‐off1/8fromstringinthebass,taperingto1/16inthehightreble.Makesurethatyouhavesomedropaerescapement.
Setdropto1/16belowlet‐off.
Withtheabovepreliminarystepscompleted,levelkeysasnecessarytotheirfinalspecificaon.Notethatwithkeyheightatthesamespecificaonasitwasbeforeac‐
onframemodificaon,keydipshouldbecorrect(assumingthatthedipwascorrectpriortotheinstallaonprocedure).Also,damperlimingisreestablished.
Checkorsetrepeonspring.Thespringshouldcarrythehammerupwardwithasteadymoon,withoutkicking.
Withthepreliminaryaconregulaondone,youarereadytoestablishthestrikedistanceandkeydipmeasurementsthatwillresultinproperaer‐touch.Sincethekey
height/keydiprelaonshiphasbeenreestablished,considervaryingonlythestrikedistancetogettheproperaer‐touch.Ifyouareworkingonanolderinstrument,
considervaryingbothstrikedistanceanddiptoarriveatanacceptablecompromise.Selectsamplekeyswithwhichtowork,likethefirstandlasttwokeysineachsec‐
on.
Depressyourfirstsamplekeyveryslowly,stoppingitsmovementjustaerletoff.Looktoseeifthereisaddionalkeytravelle.Ifthereisnoaddionalkeytravel
aertheletoffpoint,thereisnoaer‐touch.Keydipwillhavetobeincreased,orstrikedistancewillhavetobedecreased.Ifthereistoomuchaddionalkeytravel
aertheletoffpoint,thehammermayblockagainstthestringswhenthekeyisplayedfullyintoitsdip.Keydipwillhavetobedecreased,orstrikedistancewillhaveto
beincreased.Besurethatthesharpshavethesameaertouchasthenaturals.Asasecondcheck,seethatwiththekeyfullydepressed,thereissllsometravelleat
thejacktender.
Whenyouhavethekeydip/strikedistanceestablishedonyoursamples,setyourkeydiptoyourestablishedspecificaonuniformlythroughouttheacon.Youarenow
readyforthefinalregulaon.
Usingyournewstrikedistancemeasurements,carefullyrepeattheaboveoutlinedstepsforthefinalme.