Repair & Restoration

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Repairs – Many common problems such as sticking notes and squeaking pedals can be solved by a minor repair. I include these repairs in the cost of your tuning, no extra charges.

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Restoration – Action restoration varies in cost and will often only be advised for higher value pianos. Please contact me by e-mail or telephone and I’ll be happy to discuss options tailored to your piano.

New Strings – If your piano has any broken strings that require replacement, I carry piano wire to string treble strings on the day. Bass strings are unique in speaking length and so they must be sent to a stringmaker to have a replacement made to measure. This does not cost the earth, and I’ll get the replacement made, brought back and fitted for you – hassle free.

Action repair – new set of tapes

One job that often gives older pianos a new lease of life is to replace the tapes, which tend to crumble away with age. This is done as part of a restoration, but often with these older pianos, restoration isn’t financially viable. In these cases I offer a minor restoration which can involve re-shaping hammers or replacing tapes, perhaps doe skins too. Here’s an example of an action which just needed a new set of tapes.

2Before – many tapes broken

1Before – whole action view

 

I set about taking the action apart, removing all hammers and Jacks.

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With the action dismantled, all old tapes are cut off and measured so that the new tapes can be cut to length specifically for this action. Newly cut tapes are then glued into position.

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The action is then re-assembled, and the new tapes linked up to the jacks, completing the job. Once the action is installed back into the piano, I go through and regulate the action to get it set up just right.

10 2017-01-30 17.20.58 9 After – a big improvement!