Services

Tuning / Voicing / In Situ Servicing / Bespoke Reconditioning

(Beyond a standard tuning, all services are subject to my hourly rate – currently £50 per hour)

Please ask for an estimate & quote for all other work.

That being said, a standard service on most pianos needs 10-24 hours’ work (which includes regulating, re-profiling hammers, voicing, tuning).

Tuning

During ordinary use, most modern pianos need tuning 1-2 times each year – ideally 2-3 weeks after seasonal and/or central heating changes. An ordinary tuning takes 40-90 minutes.

With intensive use, tuning requirements vary – but good instruments should remain stable and ‘solid’.

Major changes in pitch will require extra tuning(s) to stabilise the instrument.

A=440Hz – UK standard

A=442Hz – Continental standard

A=446Hz – Vienna Philharmonic!

A=415Hz – ‘Baroque’ pitch, depending on instrument (fortepiano).

Voicing

This specialist skill is poorly understood by most pianists (and many piano tuners). Voicing has at least 3 aims:

1    to ‘open’ the sound of each hammer;

2   to form a sound which is responsive and maleable to the pianist’s touch, as far as possible making available a range of tones – from a close pp, through a warm mf, a bright well-projected singing, to a full-bodied ff;

3   to enable all these timbres throughout the range of the instrument, whilst giving an evenness of tone, volume & response to the instrument as a whole.

Further qualities of tone can be emphasised – and these are best decided by working together with the pianist at the piano.

Voicing is partly a reflection of the health of the regulation, so usually has a full regulation and/or re-profiling of the hammers as pre-requisite.

Regulating

According to wear & tear, each instrument has its own regulation requirements, but usually this can be done in 8-16 hours.

Repairs and/or replacement of parts involve more time, of course.

In Situ Servicing

Whether on stage, in rehearsal or work rooms, your piano can be restored to optimum playing levels.

Bespoke Reconditioning (In Officina Servicing!)

When more extensive work is required, eg refurbishing case-work or repairs to the sound-board, the action or piano will have to be transported to a workshop.