In lean times, we sometimes think of selling the family piano. Or, we decide that good pianos are much cheaper now, and why not replace the one I have for a better one? Maybe we need to update the insurance policy, and getting the piano appraised is suddenly a front-burner issue. That brings up the… Read This »
I Have a Buzz in the piano. What do I do?
Posted in Ongoing Maintenance on April 26th, 2012This can be easily remedied, but is often hard to find. There are many things that can cause a buzz or vibration in a piano. Buzzes which are obvious usually result from something that is sitting on the soundboard, mostly in grand pianos. Grand pianos have a heavy frame, known as the plate, which holds… Read This »
What Is A Temperament?
Posted in Ongoing Maintenance, Tips For The New Piano Owner on April 14th, 2012A temperament is a tuning scheme for a piano, or any stringed instrument. Historically, pianos were tuned in various ways as a kind of palette for the composer. Many of the great composers actually invented their own way of tuning their piano. Tuning their piano was necessary because the pianos were not built strongly enough to… Read This »
What Is Piano Tuning?
Posted in Ongoing Maintenance on April 10th, 2012It sounds so simple. Just tighten the strings until they sound good, right? Ahh, well, if it were only that simple. The piano is one of the only instruments that the pianist doesn’t personally tune. It’s up to the piano tuner to get it right. And it has to last through several seasons before it… Read This »
When It’s Time to Let Go of the Piano
Posted in Ongoing Maintenance on March 29th, 2012Rarely do I have the mis-fortune of advising a piano owner that there’s no more life left in the piano, and that one needs to think of getting another one. But, these are machines that have a definite life span, just as we all do. There are core parts of a piano that must work… Read This »
How Often Do I Need To Tune My Piano?
Posted in Ongoing Maintenance, Tips For The New Piano Owner on January 22nd, 2012This question is one I get most often. The answer easy answer is- at least once a year. There’s more to this than it appears, however. There are factors that will affect the tuning that might make it necessary to tune it more often. First, if you intend to use the piano for performances, such… Read This »
