Services:
Tuning
Repairs & Restoration
Appraisals
Sales
Advice is Free. Making Happy and informed customers.
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Tuning
I am always happy to speak with new customers about their piano tuning needs.
I generally advise tuning twice a year.
Once a year is just not adequate to keep a piano in top form and tune.
Other Important Reasons In Tuning:
Pianos are made of wood, felt, metal all of which react to changes in the season such as temperature and humidity. Ideally four piano tunings spaced through the year to cover the seasonal changes would be best. But being a pragmatist, I realized that this is too often for the average client, and this is why I suggest two tunings annually.
A new piano settling into a new environment will need more regular tuning for the first year or so as will a piano that has been restrung or one that has been let drop in pitch. These suggestions only apply to pianos in the average home.
Pianos in music schools, teacher’s instruments, serious students and professional musician’s pianos should be tuned more frequently as they receive heavy use. Studio and concert pianos need to be tuned before every concert or recording in addition to regular scheduled tunings.
Repairs and Restoration
I offer expert and reasonable repair services.
Most general repairs can be done in home while more extensive jobs require a piano move to my shop. Questions about repairs may be difficult to diagnose over the telephone, much as it’s hard to tell your auto mechanic what’s wrong with your car over the phone.
I am always happy to speak with new customers about their pianos. Give me a call.
(Although I am not a piano mover I have movers whom I have used for over 20 years and am happy to help arrange moves.)
Factors In Repairing:
Most pianos can be played for many years without major repairs. However, the tone, touch, and appearance will continually decline with age. When regular maintenance such as cleaning, regulating, voicing, and tuning can no longer provide satisfactory performance, a piano may require reconditioning or rebuilding.
Exactly when a piano needs rebuilding or reconditioning depends on its original quality, the climate, usage, and performance requirements. One piano may need rebuilding after just twenty years, while another may need only reconditioning after fifty years.
Pianos in music schools, teacher’s instruments, serious students and professional musician’s pianos should be tuned more frequently as they receive heavy use. Studio and concert pianos need to be tuned before every concert or recording in addition to regular scheduled tunings.
Appraisals
Whether you are considering buying a piano or considering selling the piano you already have, an appraisal is always the best place to start.
I offer honest and fair appraisals of instruments before buying and selling as well as for insurance purposes for a modest fee.
I am always happy to speak with new customers about their pianos. Give me a call.
Information For Buyers And Sellers:
Learn the quality, condition and real value of the instrument you are considering whether you are purchasing it from a private individual or a retail establishment.
Know the honest value and condition of your piano to make for an easier sale and move of the instrument.
Sales
Currently I Have No Instrument For Sale
On occasion I purchase pianos If your instrument is one of the American Six or you have an instrument for sale, please see my client questions and send pictures of your piano with some information.
Please note that I do not do Free Appraisals.
Client Questions
When I speak with new clients there are a few basic questions I always ask.
Please feel free to use these as a reference.
1. What Type Of Piano Do You Have?
Grand Piano
Most people these days have what are considered a baby grand piano. Baby grand’s range in size from about 4’11” to about 5’4″. Medium Grand. The length of a medium grand piano ranges from 5’5″ to 5’9″ in length. Living Room
- A living room grand piano ranges in size from 5’10” to 6’1″.
- Parlor grand piano or the smallest of concert size grand pianos range from 6’2″ to 6’9″
Ranging in length from 6’10” to 7’10”. They are popular for home concerts.
This is the ultimate piano! The concert grand is the piano one finds on-stage at major concert venues, symphony halls, and in the performance hall at major institutions. At 9 feet in length, the concert grand piano is the choice of the world’s greatest pianists. To many artists, pianists, and musicians the Steinway Concert Grand Piano – Model ‘D’ is considered the “Ultimate Piano”.
Upright Pianos
The shortest upright piano size ranges from 36″ – 40″ in height. These spinet instruments have a drop type, indirect blow action which is sometimes very difficult to remove and service when repairs are necessary.
Slightly larger than the spinet, height ranges from 40″ to 44″. These instruments often have scaled down hammer size and action parts which make the action fit into the small case. The action parts sit on the end of the piano key resulting in a direct blow action and are much easier to repair when necessary.
Studio upright pianos range from 43″ to 47″. Most studio upright pianos have direct blow actions, full size action parts, and produce a better tone and tend to have better accuracy and efficiency in touch.
The tallest of upright piano sizes ranges from 47″ to 52″ but, there are very few still built taller than 52 inches. Many of the millions of pianos built between 1890’s and the 1920’s fall in this category. Although many were quality instruments, now being 75 or more years old, many are failing because of soundboard, bridge, pin block, action and other major issues.
2. What Is The Brand Of The Piano
There are six or so GREAT American brands of pianos: Steinway, Mason & Hamlin, Sohmer, Chickering, Baldwin and Knabe. Of course there are other many other well-built American instruments, but these are perhaps the best known.
BUYER BEWARE…
Of the major American Six, all but Steinway are now out of business. If you find a newly built instrument bearing one of these names it is most likely built in Asia by a company that has bought the rights to the name and is really not that brand of piano built by the original company. Of the Asian pianos Kawai and Yamaha are perhaps the best known and best built.
3. How Old Is The Piano And What Is The Serial Number?
On a grand piano the serial number is usually located near the tuning pins at the front of the piano under the sliding music desk. Look in the center section. Often there is a triangle shape well or cut out just up from the bass strings. The serial number, usually 6 digits, is stenciled onto the plate or cut into the pin block (sometimes visible thorough a cutout in the plate.) If not there continue to look to the right. On an upright it is usually on the plate in the same area except that it is in front of you after removing the front case pieces.
4. How Long Have You Had The Piano Or Where Did It Come From?
5. What Kind Of Service, Tuning, And Repair Has Been Done To The Piano In The Past?