Upright piano - key weight adjustment

Hello,

premised that I am not a technician, I would like to answer you based on my personal experience.

To reduce the volume of my piano, I decreased the hammer stroke by inserting a shim under the rest felt; in this way, the hammer hits the string with less force, then I adjusted the key play by acting on the pilot.

I also performed an additional operation, but I don't know if it might interest you. In order to be able to play the softest sounds (the pianissimo), I removed the damper and adjusted the escapement to reduce the escapement point, i.e., the minimum hammer-string distance.

Bye

Hi Salvatore, thanks for the reply, but is a technician necessary for these operations? Or can they also be learned through experience? As a violinist, I have learned over the years how to adjust my instrument, how to move the soundpost and bridge to regulate the sound, but the piano seems to me to be a much more complex organism.

This morning I was in a shop that I believe was managed in an unprofessional way because there were many pianos but some - many - were out of tune; there was a new Petrof with a very noble sound, but besides not being tuned, it was also a quarter tone flat, so it is difficult to get a definitive idea. However, I found an old Schulze Polmann, from the 80s, but fascinating; the problem is that the practice pedal - which I would sometimes need - is almost unusable; with it, the keyboard becomes extremely stiff and the sound is barely audible. Whereas on other uprights the practice pedal is good and in some cases the keyboard remains playable and soft... is it possible to redo the practice pedal?

On Tuesday in Rome I have to see a Schimmel upright, from the 70s or 80s; over the phone the owner wasn't able to be more precise about the date, but he assured me that the piano has been played little and only occasionally... let's see...
I read here that Schimmel is almost the best upright, but does this also apply to the old production from the East Germany period? I saw an abyss, for example, between the new Petrof from this morning and the resonant one I tried a week ago which was built during the time of the communist dictatorship...

Hello,

from personal experience I can tell you that the 1977 vertical Schimmel (or 1975, I don't remember the year well) is an excellent instrument, provided it has been well maintained. If you get the serial number, you can check the production year on the Schimmel website. But regardless, it is a great brand.

In my opinion, when purchasing a piano, it would be appropriate to have it tuned beforehand to understand if it sounds good or not. Sometimes it may just seem out of tune, but in reality, it might hide other problems. From personal experience, my advice is not to trust blindly and to verify everything.

Regarding the practice pedal (sordina), I don't know what to tell you; I removed mine because I believe it is useless.

Adjustments are not difficult, but you must know what you are doing. I recommend studying the piano mechanics videos by Paolo Ferrarelli, which you can find on this website and on YouTube. I have watched them many times to get an idea of how to intervene.

Bye

Thank you Salvatore,

you're right, you can't trust used out-of-tune instruments; if they are new maybe, but anyone buying a new piano wants the satisfaction of playing it at its best.

Is there anyone who can tell me if the practice pedal (sordina) can be changed or modified? It is important to me; yes, it's musically useless and if you want to play, there's no point doing it with the pedal on, but for practicing in the evening it might be useful if the alternative is not playing at all. For example, I liked a Schulze Polmann 115 antique from the '80s, but the practice pedal is not good and so I have doubts about the instrument... it's useless that all pianos have a practice pedal if then only on some of them is it "usable," while on others it makes the keyboard stiff and unplayable. Anyway, if I find the piano I like, I can overlook the practice pedal.

Tomorrow morning I am going to a private seller who is selling a Schulze Polmann identical to the previous one I tried in the shop; I am curious to try it and see the differences with its "twin"...

Then in the next few days I will also try an '80s Schimmel; in this case too I am curious because a week ago I tried a new Schimmel in a shop in Rome, perhaps the only upright that I liked in that context, because there were almost only Kawai and Yamaha, and two mid-level new Schulze Polmanns, all bright instruments except for one higher-level Yamaha with a deeper and more beautiful voice... in that case, I liked the Schimmel but only for comparison with the others, since the keyboard was heavy, and although I liked the sound it seemed too dark to me and perhaps too full... I believe that the ideal piano, at least for me, must have a bright sound even in the mid-low register; I don't mean necessarily a clear timbre—on the contrary, I prefer it warm but still bright. For example, the historic Pleyels I have listened to on YouTube—unfortunately I have never had the chance to hear Chopin's sound live—seem deep and warm to me, but also bright in the middle or mid-low register... I really hope to find my piano with which to spend many beautiful moments...

Gabriele, following what you are saying, you speak very highly of your Hermann and describe it as a piano with a sweet sound that you like. Why not consider restoration? Cross-strung or not? Bayonet action, yes or no? You can send me some photos. Sometimes the solution is right in front of us! Some Hermanns from the past are good!...you are talking about Pleyels from the past.....One must see, of course, the current condition of your piano....

Schulze Polmanns are a bit hard and Schimmels too. They use very robust springs for the dampers. Let's say consistent keybeds. Schimmel is a very beautiful instrument, but one must see the condition...even of a new one.

another clarification: the more or less "brilliant" sound depends on the voicing of the hammers. It can be modified... if one knows how to do it. Naturally, the instrument must have "substance" and must not be poor in harmonics. The sound must be powerful... it can be scaled down as desired.

Let me know

Regards Paolo

Hi Pianoexpert, thanks for the advice, I then bought the Schimmel, the instrument I wrote about above.... encouraged also by having read some of your posts on this brand - you had defined it as the prince of uprights - I went to try it with great expectation... at first, upon the very first impact, it didn't seem very different from others in terms of quality, but then I experienced sensations that other uprights I had played had not given me, especially the fact that after a while the sound molded itself to the performer's personality, a sound that became more beautiful and personal. A piano with a true voice, capable of playing pianissimos while still having a great, powerful sound. It arrived home a few days ago.

I had thought about restoring the Hermann, but someone who had seen it in the past told me that the entire internal mechanism needed to be redone because it couldn't be tuned due to oxidation. Anyway, for the future, I don't rule out a restoration if technically possible... and economically? I imagine the costs for restoration are high. Even compared to the Schimmel, the Hermann remains the most poetic.

Anyway, for the moment, I am happy to have found a great opportunity for the Schimmel with a great clear sound, purchased from a private individual. I didn't have much money to spend; among all the pianos I tried, this is the one I liked most and also the cheapest, a thousand euros. An instrument from 1952 (the owner was convinced it was from the early '80s, as it had been purchased used by his mother who had played it for only a few months), internally in good condition, played very little according to the marks on the hammers; it was transported from Rome to Terni by Ciampi's mover, who, without me asking anything, told me I had made a bargain because the piano is in good shape and when playing it sounds like a grand. The problem is that after transport it presents problems it didn't have before, related to the keyboard: some keys are harder, there is some resonance and some small vibration but only on a few keys, and then there is a problem with the sustain pedal, which was perfect before but now doesn't work well; if pressed correctly, it only makes the central and upper octaves resonate, not the low ones, which only resonate if pressed excessively. I hope these are ordinary problems related to a 120 km transport. When I tried it in Rome two weeks ago, the keyboard and the pedal were perfect, and I had played it for an hour and a half. Curiously, the tuning remained fairly unchanged. I don't know if a simple tuner knows how to also do a fine-tuning to resolve these problems.

What do you advise me, pianoexpert? Certainly, the power of the sound, if possible, should be attenuated since the piano is in a room that isn't large, but even before that, the keyboard and pedal should be fixed. And perhaps the left pedal (una corda) has also worsened a bit.

Thanks, Gabriele

regarding the keys, one must see if it depends only on the fitting of the key bushings or if there is some mechanical pin that needs to be replaced. A small matter, but it must be done with straight reamers and great care, measuring the correct friction. The pedal can be adjusted. For the sound, it is necessary to tune and voice the hammers for a softer timbre.