Tuning, regulation and voicing are three distinct piano services, often confused with each other. Tuning adjusts pitch (see our separate article); regulation and voicing are about touch and tone respectively.
Regulation
Regulation covers roughly eight separate mechanical adjustments per key - things like key height, key dip, and hammer let-off distance. The goal is an even touch across all 88 keys, so no key feels noticeably harder or softer to play than its neighbors, and the action responds consistently and repeats reliably.
Voicing
Voicing adjusts tone rather than mechanics - reshaping and adjusting the density of the hammer felt (sometimes softening it with needles, sometimes hardening it) to even out or refine the piano's tone color, without changing pitch.
Why order matters
A piano generally can't be voiced well until its action is properly regulated first - voicing fine-tunes a mechanically sound foundation, it doesn't fix mechanical problems. A piano that feels uneven under the fingers needs regulation before voicing will make much difference.
