Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum question about regulation (very soft playing)

when I play very softly on a grand piano (and I also notice it on some uprights, too), I can feel a distinct bump at letoff. Is there a way to eliminate this?

You don't want to eliminate this feel completely. This is a part of the piano feel. You can lessen this feel fairly dramaticly by lubricating the knuckles on a grand or the hammer butt leather on an upright properly. I use teflon powder to do this job. Also, the action regulation can certainly affect the feel as well.

Hmm... Sometimes I play extremely soft passages, and feeling that throws me off. I can see what you're saying by not wanting to eliminate it completely, but how do I know when I've gone far enough, or am going too far?

What you are feeling is the actual let off, or the jack sliding out from under the knuckle on the hammer shank. The only way to completely eliminate this feel would be to adjust the action so that this doesn't happen. Then you would have the problem of the hammer blocking against the string or an even worse feel to the action. The best thing to do is to do a fine regulation on the action, and lubricate the firction points, along with the knuckles. This should make it feel better. I know that when I am done with an action, it has a nice soft bump at very light blows. The only other thing you could do, whitch I don't recomend to anyone, would be to buy a digital piano. They don't have that feel to them at all.

The only other way I know is find yourself a Bluethner with a Bluethner actions. They were designed to be regulated so there is no after touch. They haven't been made for about 100 years now, though. Even then, not all of them had it. The last one I played was made in 1896, but it has an Erard action. I've only serviced one with a Bluethner action.