Tuning & Servicing

A broken part means a piano that can't be played. Whether that means snapped strings, worn hammers, or a broken pedal, we can help get your piano back in action.

With over 7000 individual parts in a piano, there are plenty of opportunities for something to go wrong, especially if a piano has been poorly maintained. We undertake minor repairs where possible as part of our seasonal servicing, but some fixes may need additional time or replacement parts.

We stock only the highest quality spares and partner with reputable Australian-based suppliers of piano strings and action parts. If you suspect your piano is in need of repairs, please contact us.

Pianos can be difficult to clean because there are so many hard to reach places blocked by fragile parts. Dust (and pet hair) accumulation trap moisture, causing the strings to rust and permanent stains to appear on your piano's finish.

When this happens your piano begins to look dirty, causes long term irreversible damage to important parts, and makes everything even harder to clean as the finish deteriorate.

We undertake light cleaning as part of our seasonal service.

Old pianos are full of dark nooks and crannies that make desirable homes for mice and other pests.

Rodents gnaw on wood, stash food, and build nests with outside materials that don't belong in a piano. These foreign materials, combined with the acidic nature of mouse waste, quickly cause irreversible damage to the fragile parts inside your piano. Thankfully, pests like to steer clear of busy or noisy places, and they usually only inhabit old, untouched pianos.

Looking to bring that old piano out of storage, or eyeing off a cheap used one online? A mouse might have made its home underneath the keys. We can help by removing any nests or waste, deep cleaning, and sanitising the whole instrument in preparation for a tuning or seasonal service.

A pitch adjustment is recommended when a piano has slipped so far out of tune that the strings can't be fine tuned to standard pitch. This can happen when left for many years without tuning, or exposed to severe fluctuations in temperature or humidity.

When undertaking a pitch adjustment, your technician will need to bring each string back to the correct tension to hold their tuning, before they can undertake a fine tune to bring the piano to correct pitch.

Pianos are tuned to a standard frequency, know as A440, which allows other instruments to play alongside without sounding out of tune. Pitch adjustments add immense tension back into the strings, so depending on the condition of your piano, we may recommend adjusting the pitch lower to reduce strain on the strings and reduce the risk of breakages.

Voicing is the term used for adjusting the tone or "voice" of your piano. Over time, the dense felt-wrapped hammers which strike the strings will start to become worn or compacted, which can result in a harsh, metallic tone. Voicing reshapes the hammers and adjusts the density of their felt to soften your piano's tone.

When a piano's voicing is off, the pianist cannot achieve the tone they are looking for. This often leads them to falsely assume the problem is in their technique, as they struggle to learn new music correctly and no longer find enjoyment from the piano.

We undertake minor Voicing on outlying notes during our Standard Service, but pianos with considerable wear may require Dedicated Voicing, which involves adjusting the felt density of each individual hammer. If your piano has developed a harsh sound that hurts your ears when you play, contact us.

Regulation is the process of adjusting a piano's moving parts so it plays and feels the way it should. A piano which is out of regulation is hard to play: it may have keys which sit lower or higher than others, notes requiring extra force to play, multiple notes playing with one key press, or some keys just not working at all. A badly out of regulation piano can even cause a pianist to strain or injure their hands by trying to compensate for the mechanical issues.

Each piano has somewhere between 7000 - 8000 moving parts which all require fine adjustments, so pianos which have not been serviced for several decades can become very costly to regulate. For some cheaper pianos, the cost of regulating can even exceed the cost of the instrument.

Regular maintenance on a piano's moving parts keeps regulation costs from spiralling, which is why we undertake minor regulation as needed during our seasonal servicing to keep your piano at its best. If your piano is hard to play and might need regulation, please contact us.