A one-person workshop. I tune, regulate and repair acoustic pianos for households, music schools and small venues, and I do the work myself from start to finish.
Most instruments need tuning twice a year. Pianos that have been moved, or that sit in a room with a woodstove or underfloor heating, tend to need it more often — the soundboard follows the humidity, and the pitch follows the soundboard.
If you have inherited an instrument and have no idea what condition it is in, that is a common call. I can look it over and tell you plainly whether it is worth restoring or whether the money is better spent elsewhere. That conversation is free.
What I work on
Uprights and grands of most makes, including older German and Czech instruments. I do not work on digital pianos, electronic organs or harpsichords, and I do not take on full rebuilds — those need a bench and a press I do not have.
How a visit usually goes
A straightforward tuning takes about ninety minutes. I check the pitch first: if the instrument has drifted a long way flat, it needs a pitch raise before a fine tuning will hold, and that adds roughly half an hour. I will tell you before starting rather than after.
Regulation — the mechanical adjustment of the action — is separate work and usually booked on its own. Sticking keys, a pedal that no longer damps and a note that repeats badly are all regulation problems, not tuning problems, and no amount of tuning will fix them.
He arrived when he said he would, explained what was wrong with the middle octave, and did not try to sell us a restoration we did not need. The piano has held its tune all winter.
Coverage
I cover the city and roughly forty minutes' drive out from it. Beyond that I still come, but I add travel to the invoice and I will quote it up front. Rates are on the services page.