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Piano Tuning
& Repair Services. Providing Piano Repair and Tuning services to Montgomery
County, Maryland, Northern Virginia and Washington, DC area.We have tuned pianos for over 25 years.
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Piano
Tuning & Repair Services |
Pianos like stable
consistent temperatures just like humans!
Place your piano away
from places where temperatures vary widely during a 24-hour period or where
extremes of outside temperature occur. Keeping pianos away from windows,
outside doors, fireplaces, heating or ac vents is a start to keep your piano in
prime condition.
Since pianos don't
like extremes of climate, if you live where it can be damp (many parts of the
US), you probably should investigate a dehumidifier for your piano. If your
area has year-'round low relative humidity, you may need a humidifier. Some
areas of the country may need both! Consult your tech.
Place your piano away
from sources of humidity: kitchen, bathroom, swimming pools.
Digital pianos and
electronic keyboards never need tuning.
Visit
our website for more information about
our piano tuning services.
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When you call for an
appointment, expect to be asked for information:
- whether your piano is an
upright or grand. The name of the piano is helpful, but not essential.
- when it was last tuned
- what service you wish
- state any additional
problems beyond the tuning, such as; keys that do not play right, may be stuck,
sluggish or broken.
In emergency situations when
a piano must be serviced for a recital, class or performance at the last
minute, our tech will do everything possible to accommodate you.
The tech will work with you
as much as possible to accommodate your schedule, but we hope you can be
reasonably flexible as he has to consider his travel route for the day.
Be ready when your tech
arrives:
WHEN THE TECH
ARRIVES, please have everything removed from the top of the piano so he
can have access to opening it up.
Please be sure that the
environment is as quiet as possible so that he can hear the piano as precisely
as possible to do the best possible job for your piano.
THE TUNING:
A piano tuning means
adjusting all the tuning pins (most pianos have about over 200 pins since many
notes hit 3 strings at the same time, and all 3 strings must be in sync.). The
standard concert pitch is A-440, which means that a piano in perfect tune, when
the A above middle C is struck, would vibrate at 440 times per second. All
other keys up and down the keyboard would be tuned in a ratio consistent with
that. However, some pianos are so far below that pitch that a piano can only be
tuned to itself so that it sounds good, or raised slightly toward concert
pitch. To attempt raising the pitch to A-440 when a piano is severely flat
could result in strings breaking or worse. No reputable technician would
attempt to bring a piano up to pitch in a single tuning when the piano is
severely below pitch. However, many households are fine with having a piano
tuned to itself so that it will sound good. The major disadvantage is that you
would hear a difference if attempting to play your piano along with a recording
that was made on another piano.
Most pianos can get by with
a tuning once a year. It is recommended not to let a piano go too far beyond
the year without being tuned, regardless of whether the piano is played much or
not. The tensions on the strings have a natural tendency to relax and without
regular tuning, the strings might lapse into becoming too difficult to tune. In
some severe cases where a piano has not been tuned in a long time, the
technician may recommend the piano be tuned again in 6-months. Some musicians
prefer to have their pianos in shape as much as possible and consistently have
their pianos tuned every six months.
Most electronic pianos do
not need tuning (there have been some rare occasions where they do).
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We also
offer quality
music instruction, private in-hom music instruction
from qualified teachers.
TRAVELLING MUSIC TEACHERS
INC.
301-928-7977
Montgomery County, Maryland
Send us email
at:
yourhomelessons@gmail.com |
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Positioning a Piano in Your
Home
- Is it wrong to place a
piano against an outside wall? How far from the fireplace must it be? Can I
keep my piano in an unheated room?"
These are all common
questions posed by piano owners. The answers lie in two important criteria:
temperature and humidity.
Pianos are mostly wood and
are greatly affected by seasonal change. Variations in the air's relative
humidity, and to a lesser extent temperature, cause a piano to go out of tune.
In the long run, repeated swings in relative humidity can cause damage to the
finish, cracking of the wooden soundboard, and even structural failure. So,
when locating your piano, try to choose a spot with the fewest drafts, no
direct sunlight and stable temperature and humidity.
Common lore says that a
piano should always be on an inside wall. This is not necessarily true. If your
home is well insulated, an outside wall will usually be fine, as long as the
piano is not directly in front of a window or close to a furnace vent or other
source of warm (or cold) air.
Evenness of humidity and
temperature is what you should strive for. Thus, a piano in an unheated room is
better off than one in a family room that's alternately heated, cooled and
ventilated with open windows.
Remember:
- If the piano is facing
a fireplace or heater and its surface feels warm, it's too close.
- Avoid direct sunlight;
it will wreak havoc on your piano's tuning and eventually fade and crack the
finish.
- Consistency is more
important than the actual levels of temperature or relative humidity.
If you can't find a
suitable location, have a climate control system installed in the instrument
itself. These units can greatly improve tuning stability and other
climate-related problems where it's not practical to control the environment of
the entire house.
How often should my
piano be serviced?
Your piano is an
investment in your future. It can bring you and your family a lifetime of
music, adding immeasurable joy and beauty to your home. Because it also is such
a large investment, it should be maintained with the utmost care. Regular
servicing by a qualified tuner-technicians will preserve your instrument and
help; you avoid costly repair in the future.
Because your piano
contains materials such as wood and felt, it is subject to change with climatic
conditions. Extreme swings from hot to cold or dry to wet cause its materials
to swell and contract, affecting tone, pitch and action response of touch. You
can reduce the severity of these effects by placing your piano near a wall away
from windows or doors which are opened frequently. Avoid heating and air
conditioning vents, fireplaces and areas which receive direct sunlight. Your
piano will perform best under consistent conditions neither too wet or dry,
optimally at a temperature of 68 degrees F and 42 percent relative humidity.
While pianos generally
fall into vertical and grand model categories, each manufacturer selects its
own materials and utilizes its own unique scale and furniture designs. Every
piano requires a different level of maintenance, depending upon the quality of
materials used, the design and level of craftsmanship. Manufacturers can
provide general advice on tuning frequency but your technician can give
specific recommendations based upon your usage and locale. Here's what some of
the major piano manufacturers recommended.
Why do pianos go out of
tune?
- wires stretch slowly
all of the time. Technically speaking, the piano is going out of tune as the
tuner leaves your home after tuning your piano. This is a piano tuners' chief
job security.
- weather and climate
changes work against the piano. In the winter you heat the house up. The
relative humidity goes way down, and the wood frame of the piano shrinks. In
the summer, the humidity goes way up at times, and the wood frame expands. The
result is that the wires and tuning pins slip as the piano goes through these
cycles. I am told that some concert grand pianos can go through extremes of as
much as a half inch in their overall length. That's a lot of movement.
- you pound on it, and
you may move your piano around from time to time. Playing a piano is not the
worst thing for it. The weather changes are the worst. Of course, if you have a
big fisted virtuoso beating out top volume all the time, that is sure to knock
it out of tune in several notes.
- age gets to a piano.
The tuning pins are not mounted in the metal harp as it appears when you look
at the inside of the piano. The pins go through those holes and are mounted in
a big block of wood.
The holes in the wooden
pin block swell and shrink hundreds of times during weather changes. Add many
tunings, which eventually take their toll as the pins are moved over and over.
The resulting enlarged holes allow the pins to loosen, slip, and drop a wire
here and there, especially in dry weather.
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We also
offer quality
music instruction, private in-hom music instruction
from qualified teachers.
TRAVELLING MUSIC TEACHERS
INC.
301-928-7977
Montgomery County, Maryland
Sent us email
at: yourhomelessons@gmail.com |
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