These are not significant differences really. Methods for achieving an acceptable regulation are irrelevant if you measure regulation by the outcome (which you should) and not the method. There are many ways to skin a cat (disgusting expression really). A competent tech will discover quickly enough what works and what doesn't. How things are done in the factory is something different and has to do more with ideas about efficiency in production. I'm not sure what patents have to do with prep work. We're not redesigning the piano, just regulating and voicing it mainly. Regulation is a fairly quantifiable procedure and in any modern grand piano doesn't vary that much: let off, dip, aftertouch, checking, repetition spring tension, key leveling, blow distance. While different hammers do require different voicing techniques a competent tech will know what those differences are and hopefully not voice a Yamaha hammer in the same way as a lacquered Steinway hammer because it won't produce the same result. A properly voiced hammer well matched to the soundboard/scale functions a certain way and reveals more than creates what is the essential characteristic inherent in the piano's design. In any given piano there is a range of reasonably achievable voicing goals which will not alter the fallboard characteristics of a particular brand. Once the piano is designed and assembled it already transcends the stamp of any technician to a point. Of course, you can overdo anything but, again, a skilled technician should be able to glean the characteristics and potential in a piano even with the fallboard decal removed. That being said, there is one piano maker in particular (starts with S) that prefers its pianos to be thought of as each having its own distinct personality. Varying approaches should suit that philosophy well I would think (lol). People may gravitate to a particular brand, but they respond to the specifics of a particular instrument, its particular voicing, touchweight dynamics, soundboard/scale characteristics. Beyond that it is the unique skill of the technician to be able to recognize and make a judgment about the potential of any instrument and bring it out. Rigid, by-the-book approaches tend to produce mediocrity. Truly skilled techs see beyond "by the book" and do what needs to be done to really elevate a piano to its highest potential. That's the art of what we do and what separates the really skilled from the competent. Requires confidence and some risk taking but it reaps the highest rewards. At the risk of contradicting myself I guess nothing really "transcends the work of the service technician" either by commission or omission. I agree with you, btw, that most (but not all) dealers are not willing to pay for techs with that skill set for their floor prep. Too bad, but the truth is that most buyers don't demand that level of performance. In the end it's the impression that a fallboard decal gives about a particular piano's potential that suffers. Because while a particular design does lend itself to a particular tonal signature there is a fair amount of wiggle room under the right hands. You would think that a manufacturer would like to play up the possibility of tonal variation rather than create the impression that all of their instruments are destined to sound alike since in the end no two players even of the same make and model instrument really want the same thing. I'm sure we've all had the experience of customers telling us that they don't like Yamahas because they're bright or Steinways because they're dull. Having an identity isn't always a good thing. David Love www.davidlovepianos.com Agreed, to some extent, depending on the level of prep. Small things, though, like, say a string breaks on a NY Steinway, you really ought to know to put a Mapes wire back on so that you have a better chance of the partials matching up. And, staying with Steinway, you can regulate escapement pretty consistently, "off the jack", but you can't get the same results on a Boston, and you'll have use a different method. There will most definitely be "personality" issues that either limit or allow what you can do with one action, tone, tuning, etc., versus another brand. Each brand deserves to carry the touch and sound it considers to be its signature. I know that SMC, for example, is pretty peculiar about how techs in the factory approach certain procedures on their Knabe pianos. They don't want to know all your ideas about how you've done it in the past on a Yamaha or a Steinway. They want it done their way to preserve their signature and streamline production. Steinway and Yamaha similarly have their different approaches, and it ain't just marketing, it's they way they want it done. That's why companies apply for patents, and that's why customers are brand loyal. When a customer sees the name on the fallboard, they're not seeing Tanner or Love or Nossaman. They're buying into something that they believe transcends the work of the service technician. >> Since most dealers have a number of different techs at their disposal >> often > with varying levels of experience and expertise, the quality of the prep > work can vary quite a bit. I think this is where we differ on perspective. If you substitute the word "some" in place of the word "most", I think you'll understand the different perspective. I submit that "most" dealers just use techs who are basically capable of rough floor tunings and wouldn't know how to do most of that stuff you mentioned in the first section above. Maybe ya'll do it different out there, but I know what I've seen in the southeast. Jeff
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