Regular tunings are essential to maintaining your piano’s sound quality and longevity. Pianos naturally go out of tune over time due to fluctuations in humidity, temperature, and the constant tension placed on the strings.

Most pianos are built to be tuned at A = 440 hz (concert pitch). Pianos which are too far from pitch are outside their ideal tension range and in need of a pitch adjustment.

A pitch adjustment gets the piano ready to be tuned. To an onlooker, a piano receiving a pitch adjustment and tuning may appear to be receiving two consecutive tunings, but this isn’t exactly the case. The pitch adjustment brings the piano into the right ballpark, but the tuning is the ballgame.

In most cases, this can be done in a single visit. When this isn’t possible, the piano can be brought to pitch in one visit, and tuned in a second visit (usually spaced by about a month to give the piano time to settle).

Regulation is the process of improving a piano’s touch by making adjustments to the action and keys.

A well regulated action has consistent, responsive touch. Every note feels the same, repeats when you want it to, and allows greater dynamic control from ppp to fff.

A full regulation can take multiple days. Smaller adjustments can be done during regular service appointments and make a big impact on how your piano feels to play.

There are tens of thousands of parts inside of every piano. Unfortunately, all of them can wear and break.

However, there’s a repair for just about everything. If I don’t know it, I’ll point you to someone who does.

Issues like sticking keys, sluggish action parts, squeaks, buzzes, unglued keytops, etc. can usually be taken care of in just a few minutes.

Broken strings can usually be repaired during a normal service. Strings that can’t be repaired can be replaced. Bass strings need to be custom ordered and usually arrived within 2 weeks.

Some repairs require bringing parts back to the shop, but they’ll return to the piano better than ever.

The angle at which the hammer hits the strings, the shape of the hammer head, its density and surface texture, even the depth of grooves formed in hammer felt by repeated contact with the strings, all have an enormous impact on the tone of a piano.

Piano hammers that have seen heavy use flatten out and harden at their strike points (where they meet the strings). This can result in the piano producing nasally, harsh tone. Hammer Filing returns the hammer heads to their original shape and allows for a clearer and cleaner tone.

The piano’s tone can still be adjusted further to a pianist’s taste through voicing. Using needles, irons, and specialty chemicals, hammer felt can be softened to make the tone mellower, or hardened to make it brighter.

Dust and debris can build up in places you don’t normally see. This buildup can affect how the piano plays and wears over time.

Periodically vacuuming the action and under the keys is an often overlooked but important part of piano maintenance. Unchecked dust can cause sluggishness in the action and keys.

Grand piano soundboards should occasionally be swept- the dust that builds up under the strings can dampen the tone.

Polishing the cabinet and keys mostly just looks nice. But isn’t it great when things are shiny?

The Piano Life Saver (manufactured by the Dampp-Chaser Corporation) is a very handy system in a climate like Virginia’s. Too much humidity? It dehumidifies. Not enough? It humidifies. These systems can be installed on most pianos, and can make a big difference in environments that aren’t kept at a consistent temperature and humidity level.

These systems require routine maintenance, at least once a year. The wicking pads inside of the humidifier unit need to be replaced and occasionally some cleaning is necessary inside the humidifier. This service only takes a few minutes and can be done during any visit.

For more information on the Piano Life Saver system, visit their website here.