Piano Tuning

Over time your piano's pitch will fall and will need to be tuned in order to restore it. This process involves having a tuner come and raise the pitch of each individual string until the whole thing is brought back up to pitch. A piano falling out of tune may be accelerated by increased humidity. This is because the main part of the piano, the sounding board, is made up of wood. This wood absorbs ambient water in the air and expands or contracts accordingly. When it is damp, it causes the wood to swell, making the pitch higher. As it gets dryer, the board will flatten back out and the pitch will fall. The pitch of the piano can also be influenced by other factors, like moving it to a new location, but the biggest factor in making a piano out of tune is time. Over time, the pitch of your piano will change and need to be tuned. To keep your piano's pitch in the correct range, it will need to be tuned around twice a year.

Voicing

The tone of a piano varies even among the same brand. It is very reliant on the conditions around it, the softness of its hammers, the quality of the piano itself, and several other factors. As such, not all pianos can achieve the same quality of tone, but it can be adjusted to a certain extent by a piano tuner. If you have had your action regulated, have a piano that has not been used very much, or have recently had the hammers replaced, the hammers will be smooth and void of groves. If this is the case, the voicing of the notes can be adjusted to make the tone as uniform as possible. If the tone is too weak or soft, hardener can be applied to the hammer to make the sound more robust. If the sound is already too loud, needles can be inserted into the tops of the hammers to make the sound more mellow. 

Repair

A repair is generally classified as fixing small issue, which is sometimes cosmetic and is sometimes an internal small issue that need to be fixed. Some of these problems toe the line between repair and rebuilding, but for the most part they are small, semi-simple fixes. Sometimes key-tops get chipped or lost and need to be replaced, or the wood-finish on your piano might get chipped and need a touchup. Pins on the hammers wear out (or fall out) and have to be replaced; felts harden over time and need to be replaced in order to keep the piano functioning quietly, void of any random clicking or other odd out-of-place noises. Hammer shanks or flanges sometimes need to be replaced or fixed in order to remain in proper working order. Other parts of an action may come unglued as the piano ages and will need to be reattached so the part keeps working properly as well as ensuring that nothing falls where it shouldn't be and causes more ambient noise.

Action Regulation

Action regulation is the unsung hero of a well-functioning piano. While regular tuning keeps your piano on the right pitch, regulation makes sure your entire piano feels uniform and can perform in a more diverse dynamic range. If your piano is becoming increasingly insensitive, the keys begin to feel squishy, and deep groves begin to appear on the hammers, it may be time for a regulation. Every point on a grand action has over 35 points where it can be adjusted as well as over 9000 individual parts for the action as a whole. We go though and adjust all the parts within the action back to the original spec that they are supposed to be at, level the keys, and sand-file the hammers so they are back to looking and feeling smooth. Prior to regulation, we will assess the specific needs of the action and determine whether any repair need to be done as well. 

Rebuilding

As your piano ages, its condition will begin to deteriorate. This process could take up to a hundred years before rebuilding is necessary, or it could have been damaged in some other way (like this burned piano we rebuilt that is pictured to the right). Complete rebuilding requires the entire piano to be taken completely apart and repaired as well as having the necessary parts replaced. While the process is lengthy, the rebuild will restore the piano to its original condition, if not better in some cases. Listed below are some of the different aspects of rebuilding your piano.
These separate processes can be fixed independently as a part of a partial rebuild of your piano.

Action Rebuilding

Action rebuilding, much like everything else, can be conducted in varying degrees. Depending on the age and condition of the action, this process might require as little as replacing a few felts and then an action regulation. Other cases might require replacing the hammer shanks and flanges, wippens, front rail felts, dampers, backchecks, key-tops, and numerous other parts that can wear out over time. The action problems are slightly harder to diagnose as they are internal and are generally not visible to the naked eye. 

​Pinblock Replacement

Over time the pinblock on pianos wears out. After many tunings, varying humidity, and age take their toll, the pinblock can no longer hold on to pins properly and the piano can no longer hold a tune. This process requires the strings to be removed, the plate taken out, and then the existing pinblock has to be removed and replicated exactly. Once a new board has been shaped like the old one, it has to be drilled exactly to match the old board and then glued back in and sealed. Once replaced, the piano will be able hold a tune for years to come. 

Stringing

Strings have to replaced from time to time. Often times a single string might wear out and need to be replaced, but sometimes a complete redo must be done and your piano will have to have all of its string replaced. This is a mandatory process if the pinblock needs to be replaced, if the plate has to come out, or if the sounding board must be fixed. In order the gain access to any of those parts, the strings have to be removed and then replaced when the necessary repairs are completed.

Sounding Board Repair and Refinishing

The sounding boards of pianos often develop cracks over time that need to be repaired. Older pianos used shellac instead of lacquer to cover the sounding board which turns orange with age and often needs to be refinished. This requires the piano to be dried out so the cracks open entirely and then repairing them. After they are repaired, the entire sounding board has to have all of its old paint scraped off, sanded with varying types of circular sanders (as well as some hand sanding), and then repainted.

Refinishing

Refinishing a piano takes a lot of work. It involves taking the entire piano apart, stripping all of the paint off, and then putting multiple coats of paint back on, sanding the paint smooth after every layer of paint (by a process called "rubbing out"). Refinishing can take anywhere from several weeks to months depending on the size of the piano. We don't do many refinishing jobs and will often only take the job in special cases. Usually we will recommend E.A. Moore Refinishing whose contact information can be found on our FAQ page.

Digital Player Installation

Digital player systems replicate an actual human player sitting behind a piano with just an electronic system that attaches underneath the piano and makes it play. The latest modern player pianos integrate with the internet and have the ability to connect to many of your hand held electronic devices. A fair amount of adjustment has to be done in order to retrofit all of the individual parts of a player to a piano. Every piano is different structurally, causing these alterations to be specific to your piano. A solenoid rail is installed underneath the keybed that strike the back of the keys. A processor acts as the brain of the player and is the main piece of equipment that runs all of the other electronic components. The power supply is what supplies power to all the other individual parts, and then speakers produce all other accompanying music that the piano itself does not produce. All of these parts are mounted under the piano out of sight and work together to make the player function properly as a whole. We also perform repairs and upgrades to existing players.  The Brands we service are Yamaha Disklavier, QRS Pianomation and PianoDisc.