Regulation is the adjustment of the mechanical aspects of the pianos to compensate for the effects of wear, the compacting and settling of cloth, felt, and buckskin, as well as dimensional changes in wood and wool parts due to changes in humidity. I can adjust your action for optimum performance. Visit: PTG Resources.

Key bushings help the keys move effortlessly up and down. Have you heard; “I have a sticky key”? When the key bushings are worn or damaged, the keys may become noisy or begin to wobble, which can cause wear and tear on other parts or not function at all. When this occurs the key bushings need to be replaced.

Some customers want to know how to clean for free and others hire me. Your best money is spent on having an RPT remove the action, keys and accomplishes a “deep cleaning”. The beautiful, natural sound of a piano is due to the remarkable blending of such materials as wood, metal, buckskin, and wool. Ask first about how to clean each different type of material inside and outside of your piano.

A pitch raise is essentially a special tuning procedure designed to move approximately 200 strings to the manufactures recommended pitch of A440. For moderate pitch corrections the procedure takes about the same time as a tuning, or less. Extreme pitch changes may require two or three separate pitch adjustments.

If your instrument displays a lack of sensitivity or decreased dynamic ranges, it’s a candidate for regulation. If you notice that the keys are not level (some higher or lower than the rest), the touch is uneven or that the keys are sticking, the need for regulation is indicated. Poor legato touch, chord playing where all notes of the chord don’t speak clearly, a gradual loss of subtlety in phrasing and an inability to execute quick passages or note repetitions evenly may be the fault of the piano — not the player and again a candidate for regulation.

Clients are always right and even young adults are the 1st know when service is required. Whether your piano is a 100-year-old version in dire need of service or a brand new piano straight off the showroom floor I offer piano services to keep your piano up to manufactures specification and protecting your investment.

I would appreciate the opportunity to tune your piano. I tune by ear to A440, (w/o a machine) to bring out the best in your piano. Repairing your piano involves approximately 30 moving parts for each key and a “sticky” key could be a penny found in the keys to removing the entire action and looking for broken parts.

Voicing is the adjustment of a piano’s tone or quality of sound. Tone can be changed without affecting the pitch. For example, turning the bass or treble knobs on your stereo changes the tone but does not alter the notes the musician recorded. A skilled piano technician can voice a piano to change its tonal personality from mellow to bright or robust to delicate. The degree of change possible depends upon the piano’s design and condition.

Bridges can be repaired or replaced and are cheaper than buying a new piano. Pianos generally have 2 “bridges”: a treble and a bass bridge. A piano bridge is the same as a violin. It is a piece of wood that transmits the vibrations of the strings to the soundboard. A bridge can develop cracks or become unglued from the soundboard. These defects can cause annoying sounds in certain strings, or a “dead” tone, especially in the bass.

A piece of felt that touches strings to stop the sound in approximately 1 ½ seconds Did you hear ringing after you let go of the key? The damper itself is connected to a wire that is connected to about 20 other moving parts. Fixing a damper could literally take 30 seconds or require hours of repair, replacement and adjustment.

The piano “action” is the mechanism that strikes the strings to produce a sound. A piano has thousands of parts, mostly of wood, felt and leather that “can” wear out or break. Amazingly parts from a 1900 vintage piano to a newer 2001 piano can be replaced. Some times parts cost $0.25 or $$$ and fixing a part deep inside the piano takes time. I ask you to pay me the time it takes to fix the broken part and let me tell you the honest cost from a piano supply house for the actual price.

Piano hammers are designed to have a rounded top resulting in a precise striking surface. After a piano has a few years of use the hammer tops become flattened with string grooves cut into the hammer surface. The grooves cause a harsh, unclear tone in the piano and the flattened surface can cause strings to break. To fix this condition the hammers are reshaped.

The piano action is taken out of the piano and the hammers are filed to the proper shape. This procedure takes a few hours to do depending on how worn the hammers are. Very little hammer material is taken off the hammer top so this procedure can be done a few times in the life of the hammer. The action needs to be adjusted (regulated) somewhat after reshaping the hammers because the hammer distance from the strings changes. Usually hammer reshaping is done as part of a regulation job.

Benefits of reshaping/replacing piano hammers: 1) The piano has a clearer, sweeter tone. 2) Strings are less likely to break. 3) The proper shape of the hammers provides an optimal foundation for precise piano regulation.

Major components of the grand and upright pianos are the cabinet/rim, the soundboard and bridges, the hammers, strings, and pins and the action. The customer calls and says “I have a sticky key” and usually the action is the culprit. There are over 30 parts for each key that can be adjusted, fixed or repaired.

Need adjustments or hear a squeek? Look at all of the components: Piano Pedals for either Uprights and Grands, Hardware, Lyres, Braces, Platforms, extenders, Brackets, Buttons, Props, Springs, Pedal Covers just to name a few.

The piano is a musical instrument with parts that allow the action to function properly. Take your car: You change the oil, rotate the tires and put gas in it to make it work for years. Pianos have the potential to last for “generations” and require care and maintenance so repairing components will keep your instrument fully functionally for years to come.

The trap-work on some Grands and Uprights looks like it has been in hibernation for years. Some times the pedal mechanism is not worth replacing but I suggest at least stopping the squeaks and improving the function.

Visit this web site: Piano Life Saver. Ask me what the dealer costs are, the technician’s costs are and what the suggested retail price is! The Piano Life Saver is a complete piano humidity control system. It keeps your piano on pitch better and prevents damage from climate and environmental effects.

If you have a good-quality vintage piano, the chances are good that the white key tops are ivory. Ivory usually comes in two individual pieces — a headpiece and a tailpiece. The fronts are usually made of plastic, even on pianos with ivory key tops. Although ivory is ideal for use in making key tops, new ivory is no longer available at a reasonable price. Replacing a complete set of key tops with legally sold ivory can be very expensive, costing several thousand dollars. If a keyboard has ivory pieces missing, it can be difficult to match the color or grain pattern of the originals with used ivory. With careful attention to detail when replacing individual ivory pieces, it is possible to do an outstanding job. After careful reconstruction of using ivory bleaches, sanding and a lot of time buffing & polishing the keys, the replacement pieces can be almost indistinguishable from the originals.

The average piano is comprised of thousands of moving parts. Just one damaged, worn or misaligned part can cause problems ranging from a sticking or sluggish key to one or more that will not play at all. Reconditioning can be as simple as using a straw to fix a broken hammer shank to removing the entire action and putting the part back into working order with detailed manufacture specification.

Day in and day out, pianos are being brought back to life. Pianos that have lost their original beautiful tone and finish can bring back original manufactured sounds and looking much finer. With the superb quality of the older cabinetry combined with the finer felts, strings, and leathers that are available in today’s technology, your piano can have the best of both worlds.

Some pianos feel even and smooth from note to note, and yet others seem like each key requires a hammer or feather touch. The reasons for this are various but adjusting the touch weight cures these syptoms. Over the last decade David C. Stanwood of Stanwood Piano Innovation Inc. carried out extensive scientific studies of piano actions. Stanwood found that the former methods of measuring and creating the “feel” of pianos were inadequate, so he invented a whole new system of units and measures to explain why pianos “feel” the way they do. special treatment to produce an even tone. Let me tell you more.