A Registered Piano Technician with the Piano Technicians Guild, Roy offers Greater Houston Piano Services on all makes and models. Here are some of the services just to mention a few.
Piano Tuning – Piano tuning is when slight adjustments are made to the tensions of the strings in order to achieve a perfect pitch of A440. Your piano will sound best when properly tuned and maintained. Pianos should be tuned at least once a year, but more frequently depending on the amount of use.
Pitch Raising – When a piano has not been serviced for many years, it may require “pitch rising”. This is basically the equivalent of tuning the piano twice in one visit or session, and typically involves several hours.
Voicing – Piano hammers tend to naturally harden over time. Harder hammers produce a brighter tone quality, which may ultimately become harsh and undesirable. Hammers can be softened by using special tools called voicing needles. In either case, an important goal is uniform tone quality across the piano, since the hammers are not used with equal frequency and therefore tend to wear unevenly. How much and how forcefully the piano is played is a factor in how often a piano should be voiced.
Hammer Resurfacing – Over time, strings will wear grooves into the surface of the hammers. These grooves eventually become deep enough, and the head of the hammer flattened enough, that voicing cannot restore the piano’s tone. At this point, the hammers should be filed back to their original shape. This process may be repeated several times, until there is not enough felt material left on the hammers for another filing, and then must be replaced.
Regulating – Over time, the performance of your piano action tends to decline, due to the compression of felt and the warping of wood. The goal of regulating is to make the piano’s touch and sound consistent across all notes. This will also make the keys responsive to even the most rapid or most subtle motions of the player.
Felt replacements – Over time, piano felts will compress and or become harder, changing both the sound and performance of your piano. Regular maintenance and felt replacement will improve your piano’s performance giving you years of playing pleasure.
Restringing – Often, older piano will develop rust on the strings, or it may have a problem with breaking strings. On the bass strings, dirt and debris can accumulates within the coils causing them to be less flexible creating a tubby or dead sounding tone. The bass strings can sometimes be rejuvenated by working to get the junk out of the coils, but it is preferable to replace the entire set. Typically when restringing a piano, the tuning pins and strings are usually replaced as a unit at the same time. When the strings are removed, they are carefully measured and the scale design is calculated to determine what size strings should be used for replacement.
Piano Sales – We often have a selection of pianos to choose from, in varying price ranges. Please let us help you find that perfect piano you will enjoy for years to come.
Piano Appraisals – The most accurate and comprehensive way of performing an appraisal is to physically inspect the piano. Once the inspection is completed, you will know what your piano’s market and replacement value. This appraisal can also be used for insurance, buyers or sellers.
