Tuning & Voicing
Tuning
All pianos need tuning and there are certain reasons why a piano drifts out of tune. These include humidity, temperature, the tightness of the wrest pins (this is particularly common in older pianos)generous usage and whether the piano has been moved.
We recommend that your piano is tuned twice a year (depending on usage). Pianos used on a regular basis will require tuning approximately every three months.
Wherever possible we tune your piano to concert pitch (A440). This isn't always possible due to the age of the strings the wrest pins and how tight they are in the wrest plank.
If the wrest pins are loose and a pitch raise was attempted, the piano would fall out of tune very quickly. This is due to the fact that the pin would not grip inside the wrest plank and likewise an old string would have a good chance of breaking because of the added tension the tuner will be putting on it. In this situation and if the piano has potential we would recommend to repin and restring the instrument. If a pitch raise has been made on your piano, it would require approximately three to four tunings depending on how flat the pitch was in the first instance. A further visit would be needed one to two weeks later to give it a fine tune.
Voicing
After the piano has been tuned it can then be voiced if needed. Brightness or metalic tone and a tone being too mellow is down to personal preference. If the tone of your piano is particularly bright then we can voice the hammers to make it mellow. This can be achieved by inserting a voicing needle in to certain areas of the hammer head. Alternatively, if the sound is too melow, then we can make the hammer slightly harder to receive a brighter sound.