PIANO MAINTANENCE
OUR VARIOUS SERVICES OFFERED
Tuning is the adjustment of the tension of all of your piano’s 250 to the correct pitch or frequency. This ensures that notes played in a musical interval (octaves, chords, etc.) will sound in harmony and to ensure that the piano’s beautiful tone lasts just as long as you do. The majority of pianos go haywire and deteriorate primarily because they have not been maintained at the proper pitch for a long period of time. It pays to take note that if your piano doesn’t sound bad, it still requires tuning, in the similar way a vehicle functioning perfectly needs it’s regular service maintenance.
Remember, your piano is made entirely of wood and metal, and in order for these two drastically different materials to work together, they need to be in balance with each other. Keeping your piano at concert pitch (A=440hertz) ensures that the tension of the the strings (often totalling several hundered tonnes!) bearing down on your piano’s giant iron frame and soundboard are more or less equal over the years, therefore prolonging it’s life.
Rates are $120-$150 for uprights depending on it’s size and complexity and $180 for grands. It is recommended that you try your piano out BEFORE the tuner has left in case there are corrections that need to be done.
Every piano has its own unique sound. One might be described as ‘glassy’ another as ‘warm’. One might have a ‘full singing’ tone, and yet another sounds ‘thin.’ Although the original design establishes the basic character of your piano’s tone, your technician can modify it to better suit your taste or restore its original tone if it has deteriorated with age. The process of modifying a piano’s tone is called voicing.
Does my piano need voicing?
-Your piano may benefit from voicing if:
-You don’t like the sound your piano makes even after it has been tuned.
-Tone varies radically from note to note.
-You cannot achieve a range of tone (mellow to bright) at different volumes.
-The piano has lost its ability to play softly.
Before deciding if your piano needs voicing, make sure it is well-tuned and well-regulated. Play various styles of music on it and listen for things you don’t like and point it out to the technician before voicing of your piano has commenced.
Some types of voicing procedures are long-lasting, especially those intended for your home, so give yourself some time to explore the sound of your instrument before deciding to change it.
Over time the mechanical aspects of pianos wear out due to regular playing as well as dimensional changes in wood and wool parts due to changes in humidity. Your piano will need to be adjusted to compensate for these effects of wear in order to keep functioning in tip top condition and to prevent premature wear and tear, and potentially serious problems. A rough guideline would be that heavily thrashed pianos will definitely need regulation every 6 months to a year, where the average family piano that has been played on lightly by you and the kids, maybe the occasional domestic helper :), will almost never require adjustment in a few years.