User guide

Introducon
7
Piano Acon Regulaon
Thisdiscussionisnotintendedto beacompletecourseongrandaconregulaon,butrathermayprovehelpfulinrestoringtheacontoproperperformance.Proper
alignmentofaconparts,andkeyeasingareallveryimportantstepsintheregulaonpro cedure.Thefollowingprocedure
assumesthatthispreliminaryworkhasbeen
checkedandperformedasnecessary.Beforeremovingtheaconfromthe aconcavity,evaluateaconregulaon.Iftheacon isnot wellregulated,properperfor‐
manceofthesystemcannotbeexpected.

Duringtheinstallaonprocessof
thePNOmaonIIPlayerSystem,itisquitepossiblethataconregulaonwillbedirectlyaffected.Aporonofthekeyframeandback
railclothwill beremovedsothatthenotesolenoidplungerscancontact thekeytails.Thisoperaonmaycausethekeytailsto
belowerthantheiroriginalposion.The
resultoflowerkeytailsisanincreaseinbothkeyheight,andhammerstrikedistance.Restoringthestrikedistancetospecificaonsbyturningoutthecapstanscrewsis
nottheproperremedy.Alwaysre‐workthebackrailheight
sothatthekeyheightisatitsoriginal posion.

‐Arethekeyslevel?
‐Dothehammersletoff1/8inthebass,taperingto1/16inthehightreble?
‐Isthedrop1/16belowthepointoflet‐off?
‐Isthehammerlinestraight?
‐Are
thehammershanksapproximatelyoneshankthicknessabovethehammerrestrail?
‐Isthereadequateaer‐touch?

Withtheacononaflat,cleanw orkbench,measureandrecordthefollowing:
Naturalkeyheightatbassandtrebleends.
Sharpheightabovenaturals.
Keydip;bothnaturalsandsharps.

Theheightofthefirstandlasthammersineachseconoftheacon.

Replacethekeysandaconstackontheaconframe.Refertotheregulaonmeasurementsrecordedearliertoseeifregulaonhasbeenaffectedbythemodifica
ons
totheaconframe.Ifkeyheight,keylevel,orstrikedistancearedifferentthanpreviouslyrecorded,stepsmustbetakentorestoreproperregulaon.

Torestorekeyheight,replacethebackrailclothwithoneofathickerdimension. Removetheaconstackandkeys.
Aerremovingtheoldbackrailcloth,besurethat
alltracesofgluehavebeenremovedfromthebackrail.Replaceafewoftheendkeysandtryvariousthicknessofbackrailcloth,without glue,toballparkthecorrect
keyheight.Lightfingerpressureon
thecapstanscre wwillapproximatetheforcethatisnormallyonthecapstan.Setkeyheightwiththebackrailclothat,orslightly
belowthedesiredkeyheight.

Whenyouaresasfiedthatyouhavethebestchoiceofbackrailcloth,gluethematerialtothe
backrail,leavingtherearedgeunglued.Nameboardfeltisavailableina
fewdifferentthicknesses,andcanbeusedforfineadjustmentswhengluedunderthebackrailcloth.

Althoughkeyheightcanbereestablishedquiteaccuratelyusingtheaboveprocedure,somekeylevelingistobe
expectedwhenreplacingbackrailcloth.

Rememberthatsubsequentaconregulaonadjustmentswillaffectthosealreadyperformed.Topreparetheaconforfineregulaon,dothefollowingquickly:

Checkorsetrepeonleverheightsoitisslightlyhigherthanthejack.Duringyour
finalregulaon,tripthejacktenderwithyourfingerandreleaseitslowly.Ifregulat‐
edproperly,youwillbeabletofeelthejackbrushingtheknuckleasitisreleased.Thejackmustreturncompletelyundertheknuckle.

Setstrikedistanceto13/4.Besure
thathammershanksareabovetherestrail.

Checkorsetjackposionsothatthebackedgeofthejackisalignedwiththebackedgeoftheknucklecore.

Setlet‐off1/8fromstringinthebass,taperingto1/16inthehightreble.Makesure
thatyouhavesomedropaerescapement.

Setdropto1/16belowlet‐off.

Withtheabovepreliminarystepscompleted,levelkeysasnecessarytotheirfinalspecificaon.Notethatwithkeyheightatthesamespe ci ficaonasitwasbeforeac‐
on
framemodificaon,keydipshouldbecorrect(assumingthatthedipwascorrectpriortotheinstallaonprocedure).Also,damperlimingisreestablished.
Checkorsetrepeonspring.Thespringshouldcarrythehammerupwardwithasteadymoon,withoutkicking.

Withthepreliminary
aconregulaondone,youarereadytoestablishthestrikedistanceandkeydipmeasurementsthatwillresultinproperaer‐touch.Sincethekey
height/keydiprelaonshiphasbeenreestablished, considervarying onlythestrikedistanceto gettheproper aer‐touch.If you
areworkingonanolderinstrument,
considervaryingbothstrikedistanceanddiptoarriveatanacceptablecompromise.Selectsamplekeyswithwhichtowork,likethefirstandlasttwokeysineachsec‐
on.

Depressyourfirstsamplekeyveryslowly,stoppingitsmovement justa
erletoff.Look toseeifthereisaddionalkeytravelle.If thereis noaddionalkeytravel
aertheletoffpoint,thereisnoaer‐touch.Keydipwill havetobeincreased,orstrikedistancewillhavetobe
decreased.Ifthereistoomuchaddionalkeytravel
aertheletoffpoint,thehammermayblockagainstthestringswhenthekeyisplayedfullyintoitsdip.Keydipwillhavetobedecreased,orstrikedistancewillhaveto
beincreased.Besurethatthe
sharpshavethesameaertouchasthenaturals.Asasecondcheck,seethatwiththekeyfullydepressed,thereissllsometravelleat
thejacktender.

Whenyouhavethekeydip/strikedistanceestablishedonyoursamples,setyourkeydiptoyourestablished
specificaonuniformlythroughouttheacon.Youarenow
readyforthefinalregulaon.
Usingyournewstrikedistancemeasurements,carefullyrepeattheaboveoutlinedstepsforthefinalme.