Samick upright piano keyboard unevenness

Dear Ivana

Absolutely! The piano is out of level! COMPLETELY!!!!. This affects the proper functioning and the overall performance of the instrument. The keyboard must be leveled again and we must proceed from scratch with a total regulation of the action. Nothing transcendental... but one must know how to do it. Every intervention on the piano must start from a precise regulation that must be carried out following the manufacturer's specifications (if necessary, with some minimal customization).

The piano, naturally, is absolutely not new and/or has been handled by an inexperienced person. You must strictly demand that it be put right... assuming the seller wants to and knows how to do it. If necessary, one can ask for a small refund on the price which will be allocated to the technician who will handle this important and definitive intervention (completed with tuning and checking the hammer voicing/intonation). Nothing must be "improvised"... everything must be executed with precision.

When a piano leaves the manufacturer, these precise regulations are performed but, either due to use or inadequate handling, it can go out of regulation. (Perhaps here I venture to say that there was an "attempt" at leveling with the wrong procedure.... perhaps in an attempt to fix other inefficiencies)

Depending on the model (perhaps written on the top right of the "golden" cast iron frame - for Samick it should be an... S.... or... G... or similar), the general level of the keys must be at a certain height relative to the keybed. After leveling the keyboard (white keys and the level of the blacks relative to the whites), one must proceed again (if it has ever been done) to checking the let-off/dip of each key and subsequently to the general regulation of the action. The instrument will return to full efficiency. For the pianist, whether expert or budding, it is important to have under their fingers a uniformity of response to the technical demands they are performing or learning. The irregular response of the instrument causes them to unconsciously or consciously acquire false compensations and execution "vices."

Compliments on your attention! Let me know.

Regards

Paolo Ferrarelli

Good morning and thank you for your quick and precise response, today the seller should come to my house with his technician, I will bring this matter to his attention, then I will let you know how things go, thank you again

Well. The fact that the seller is accompanied by the technician is a good thing. Surely the technician will be able to intervene successfully.

Good evening, in the end the keyboard has been fixed, not without first having an argument with the seller who insisted that it was fine as it was; I am sorry because we chose a renowned and well-known seller in Abruzzo, we are very disappointed by how he behaved, but in the end we obtained the repair, thank you for the advice you gave us!

Well. I hope the general mechanical regulation was also performed (checking black key height, checking the dip of each white and black key, adjusting the pilots in contact with the heel of the wippens, hammer-string distance, hammer escapement point, hammer repetition/parata, damper lift adjustment, pedal adjustment) which can be altered after a new general leveling of the keyboard height.

Happy Music

Ivana wrote:

17 hours ago, Ivana said:

Good evening, in the end the keyboard has been fixed, not without first getting into an argument with the seller who insisted that it was fine as it was; I am sorry because we chose a renowned and well-known seller in Abruzzo, we are very disappointed by how he behaved, but in the end we obtained the repair, thank you for the advice you gave us!

So he also wanted to be right? Basically, one goes to a dealership, buys a used car with a nice 2000 16v 4-cylinder engine that runs on 3 cylinders. One returns from the dealer, points out the matter, and he rightly says that it is normal for one cylinder not to work. Then one insists and brings a mechanic who naturally performs the repair (so in order to perform the repair, it is natural that there was something wrong, otherwise he wouldn't have repaired anything), and the dealer continues to say that it was the same even on 3 cylinders.

What kind of people are these? ????

Good morning, that's how it went, perhaps even worse; unfortunately I wasn't present, only my husband was there, and a real brawl was narrowly avoided. The seller arrives and practically dismantles the piano in the worst possible way, throwing things around and pulling the keys from below, practically sending them flying into the air—a terrible scene according to what my husband told me. From that point on, things spiraled; endless arguments. Fortunately, the seller left, leaving the technician alone for another two hours; he did everything, and the piano is perfect now, but we are left with a bitter taste in our mouths. For us, it was supposed to be a happy week because of this investment, which is very costly and important to us, but in the end, it was ruined by an ill-mannered person who acts like an important entrepreneur. A disgrace; he was only lucky that we are decent people, otherwise things would have ended very badly... I wonder how he still works so much.... thank you all for your interest

I am very sorry for what happened. I feel that I too contributed to originating the disagreement. After all, if I am questioned, I have a duty to give my opinion.

In this forum, we would never want to express judgments, but when things are very obvious, I personally feel compelled to give my sincere opinion.

The piano is a complex and not easy instrument. Not easy to play and not easy to regulate. The purpose of this forum and this site is also, among many purposes, to make pianists aware of this complexity and the necessity of proper functioning in favor of a good performance.

I am sorry when this attention is not applied or when the indispensability of proper functioning is even denied, especially by dealers and technicians.

Fortunately, it is not always like this. There are many skilled technicians and attentive dealers who can continue to uphold the importance of our instrument in the world of Music.

Regulation (adjustment, tuning, voicing, leveling, etc.) is at the foundation of good artistic and technical-musical growth. Over time, this attention and care must also be applied to the piano.

What you are telling me saddens me, but the good Music that will "bloom" from the instrument will soon make you forget the episode.

Good Music

Good evening, you are absolutely not to blame for anything; on the contrary, you have given me further confirmation of what our inexperienced eyes were seeing. Unfortunately, in this world there are people who believe they are above everything or everyone, and I believe that respect is the foundation of everything. This gentleman blatantly threw it in our faces that he was the expert and that he was right, even though besides yourselves we had consulted my daughter's high school piano professor and an experienced musician, and all agreed with us; hence our insistence on getting what we paid for. My daughter is in her third year and still has much to learn, and it is important that she does so without setbacks and without keyboard defects. Thank you very much again for your support and for the precious advice, have a good Sunday!

Ivana wrote:

2 hours ago, Ivana said:

Good morning, that's how it went, perhaps even worse; unfortunately I wasn't present, only my husband was there, and a real brawl was narrowly avoided. The seller arrives and practically dismantles the piano in the worst possible way, throwing things and pulling the keys from below, making them practically fly through the air—a terrible scene according to what my husband told me. From there, things spiraled; endless arguments. Fortunately, the seller left, leaving the technician alone for another two hours; he did everything, and the piano is perfect now, but it has left a bitter taste in our mouths. For us, it was supposed to be a happy week because of this investment, which is very costly and important for us, but in the end, it was ruined by an ill-mannered person who acts like an important entrepreneur; a disgrace. He was only lucky that we are decent people, otherwise things would have truly ended badly... I wonder how he still works so much.... thank you all for your interest.

If he had done something like that to my piano, he would have been the one flying through the air!

Good morning. I have sent a private message.

What disconcerts me is that we are not talking about very technical or minute aspects, but about something very obvious, even to the eyes of non-experts. I'll make a comparison: if I buy a new car, they can tell me "stories" if there is something mechanical that isn't quite right (for example, the clutch), but perhaps not about a very visible scratch along the entire side, where the evidence is being denied. The unevenness of the keyboard is VERY obvious!!! We are not talking about tenths of a millimeter!! How can one claim to be right about something so conspicuous? Then one can talk about more technical and minute aspects that make the approach to the instrument pleasant. Personally, I tolerate the limitation of the instrument more than the limitation of the tuning/regulation; I prefer playing a piano that might not be very good but expresses its 100%, rather than a great instrument that is "suffocated". In any case, I advise you to have the instrument reviewed by a capable technician, who is disinterested and free from "commercial" dynamics. It is beautiful to see a technician who challenges the instrument and who becomes passionate like a child!