Need your piano cleaned and tuned?  I can help with that.

Use the form below to schedule a tuning session.  Need more information?  Check out the rest of the page for answers to the most common questions I get.

Full Tuning

I’ll tune the entire piano to A440* using a combination of old-fashioned mark 1 mod 0 ears and electronic tuners.

Pest removal

The bowels of pianos are a favorite for spiders and other pests.  I’ll evict those unwanted visitors.

General Cleaning

I’ll make sure any dust bunnies are dealt with, as well as wipe down the soundboard and give the piano a basic cleaning.

Minor Repairs

Sticky keys, broken strings, stuck pedals can be dealt with.  If I can’t fix it, I’ll let you know up front and provide direction on how to get it fixed.

*Dependent on the condition of your piano; rusty strings or old pianos may not be able to be tuned up to A440.  In this case I’ll tune all strings to a lower frequency than 440 as tolerated

What to Expect

Here’s how this works

If you’ve had your piano tuned before, great, you know the drill. If not, here’s how this process works.  Start to finish, expect about 3 to 3.5 hours.

Clean up

The first step is basic clean up. I’ll go through and do a basic cleaning, removing any dust, pests, and lost treasures.

Check up

After clean up, I’ll check the piano for basic functionality and any obvious issues.  If you know of anything, now is the time to let me know.  I’ll let you know if it can be tuned or repaired at this point.

Tuning

The longest part of the session, I’ll start with the middle octave and get it tuned electronically. From there I tune each string for the entire upper register, using both the electronic tuner and listening for resonance.  I’ll finish with the lower octaves.

Try out

As I tune I’ll play different chords and scales to listen to how the strings sound.  The best way to tell though, is to play it and hear how it sounds naturally.

f.a.q.

Got Questions?  I’ve got answers

Still have questions? Check out below for answers to the most common questions I get. Not here? Fill out this form and I’ll get in touch.

Session Preparation

What do I need to do?

Simply make sure the piano itself is free of any personal belongings and I have room to work.  If I need to take out the action (keyboard), I will need a large area with padding to set the action down on.  If possible, I’ll also need an outlet for a vacuum to remove pests and dust from the bowels of upright pianos, and to help remove dust from grands and baby grands.

Should I make sure the room is quiet?

While this should make sense, I’ve had this asked.  Yes.  It needs to be relatively quiet.  I can work with quiet conversation and some background noise, but since I’m using my ears to listen for unison…silence is a virtue.

Do you do drop pianos?

Nope.  Sorry, but if a string breaks or I have to get the action out, it is too time-consuming.  Drop pianos have each key individually tied in so that the piano can be compact, and to remove the action requires untying all 88 keys.

Repairs

What are considered minor repairs?

Broken strings, sticky keys, misaligned keys, stuck pedals, etc.  In general, most issues can be fixed without too much trouble.  That being said, some problems are too complex for me to work on.  I’m self-taught, and not a trained piano repair technician.  Cracked sound boards, warped or cracked pin blocks, or broken pin hitches are things that are best left to a trained service technician.

Can broken strings be fixed same day?

It depends.  I have the most common size treble string with me usually.  That being said, if you’re piano uses different sized strings or a bass string breaks I’ll have to order the part.  Bass strings will always have to be ordered, as I have to order the string with a specific sized wrap and length.  The return cost is simply the string cost plus $20/hr.  I can usually replace a string in about 20 minutes.

I’ve got a broken key, can it be fixed?

Again, it depends.  Most keys can be fixed without too much trouble, but for a key that is really broken, I may need to try and find a new key from a piano parts supplier.  Again, most pianos will use the same basic type of action, so as long as the piano is not too unusual I can probably fix it.

Payment

What payments are accepted?

I can take payment via credit card, check, or cash. If paying by card, you’ll receive an invoice within 24 hours after the session.

How long do I have to pay?

If invoiced payment is due 7 days from the date of invoicing.