We were at the Springboro Expo this past weekend with a booth to raise awareness for piano tuning in Springboro and to teach people about proper care of their piano. We had a great time and were able to meet many new customers. Many people wait too long to have their piano tuned and repaired because they do not know a trusted technician or they have the false idea that it will cost $500 to tune their piano. A regular tuning is only around 95.00 and can be done in a little over an hour. But if you wait for years and allow your piano to sink in pitch, you will have to get more attention to get your piano back up to pitch and it takes several tuning to get it to hold there. In other words, it is just better to have regular tunings and keep your piano healthy. If something like a key is sticking then it can usually be easily fixed during a tuning for a minimal fee. Don’t be afraid to take care of your piano. If you have fears, call me to discuss your needs. I met a pastor that thought it would cost $500 to tune the church piano so he waited over 5 years to have it tuned!
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I started a semi-apprenticeship in rebuilding with Tim Upton two weeks ago. Right now I am working on a grand action. Started by sanding and reshaping hammers and then voiced them up a bit to bring some power back to the piano. It has a beautiful finish now, it is a 1927 Howard Grand make by Baldwin grand. We will move on to more regulation this week. I am about to watch the 37 steps to regulation from the Yamaha technician the Jack gave me yesterday. I will post some pics of the hammers later. We also added a new green hammer rail felt.
This may help you decide on investing on a good piano before purchasing a really old bad one for cheap.
From Email forums….
Thirty years ago I was working at a piano store in Dallas. A man drove up and parked his Lincoln Mark IV – or whatever number it was then – and came in the store. He said he needed to find a “practice piano” for his son to use as he started piano lessons. The store didn’t carry any old beaters then so the salesman (who had nothing to lose) said “you mean you’ll drive up in a top-of-the-line car and ask about a $125 piano for your son?” The man was taken aback a bit and the salesman sold him a pretty decent piano!
David M. Porritt, RPTAndrew,
I think this is an important point to make.
We’re faced with declining sales of new pianos. Children start on old beaters, give up in frustration, move to another instrument, and the parents say “Well, I’m glad we didn’t waste money on a new piano.”
Explain to the parents that any instrument will either lead a student on, or hold them back. Learning to play piano means acquiring fine motor skills over the hands and fingers. Bring a stack of nickels and demonstrate the difference in downweight on each key. Just like going down basement steps where the last step is 1″ shorter (or taller), small differences in resistance make smooth play impossible. Show the difference in letoff, note to note, and the raggedy dampers. If the teacher would have trouble performing on this piano, how much harder will it be for the student?
The
student plays on the teacher’s piano, comes home and it sounds lousy.
They
blame themselves, of course, and get frustrated.
Would you let a student driver have grandma’s old car, with play in the steering, brakes you have to pump, a slipping clutch, and an emergency brake that needs adjustment? Of course not.
Think the other way. Think about who invested money in that piano when it was new. Think about how many years of pleasure have been given to perhaps more than one family during its, say, 25 years of functional life.
I encourage people to at least rent a decent piano, instead of dusting off a free garage sale upright. I happily give an honest evaluation of work needed and cost, separated into “must have” and “nice to have”, along with an honest assessment of unknowns. The possibility of replacing most bass strings at $20+ each is pretty scary to most customers. Car analogies
help:
pianos have parts designed to wear out, like tires, belts, and hoses.
If a
1964 Rambler American was an entry-level car when new, would you spend $5,000 to fix it up today?
Does every five-year-old need a concert grand to learn on? Of course not.
But what if they had one at home? Would it make a difference? Why not rent a decent piano until both parent and child have a sense of what a good piano is like?
–Cy–
ABQ, NM
I am studying to become a master piano technician with Randy Potter through his school for piano. Things are going great and I have a local mentor, Jack Hamilton. With his experience and help I now have the ability to offer many services even if I do not do that specific work on the instrument at the current time. For any job, let me know what you may need. I will become a RPT through the Piano Technicians Guild very soon.
Like a house or a car, understand that you are going to have to spend a certain amount of money on an ongoing basis to tune, regulate, clean and take care of your piano. This is called routine piano maintenance. Without this care, the best piano will be sub par and potentially at risk to being damaged.
Looking for the cheapest rate from a piano tuner is pennywise and pound foolish. Your technician is your only safeguard against potential damage and wear and tear of your instrument. If you tell a tuner that you want a certain cheap rate, all you are really doing is shortchanging yourself and fooling yourself into thinking that you are getting more for less. The chances are you are getting less for less.
Welcome to my new site/blog for piano tuning and all else that may interest you in regards to pianos and keeping them sounding great. If you need your piano tuned in the Dayton/Cinci area, let me know.
Thanks,
Eric Roberts
eric@studio43.org