Ty Uphoff Piano Tuning
Specialized Service as unique as your piano
Even though I am just an amateur on the piano, I recognize a person who cares about the individual and the instrument. As long as you tune you will be my tuner.
-Gary Smith via Facebook
Piano Tuning
Fine piano tuning is a combination of technical and artistic skill. Becoming a highly skilled piano technician is much like becoming a highly skilled musician. It takes knowledge, practice, and experience. With over 200 strings in your piano, each at over 100 pounds of tension, tuning your instrument frequently will insure that it remains at the factory prescribed level, most usually A440. It is a preventative maintenance.
"How often should my piano be tuned?"
This depends on the use of the instrument and ranges from before every performance for a recording studio or venue, to once a year for light residential use. Most people who play regularly would benefit from twice a year. The most discerning players will require 3 or 4 tunings a year to remain pleased with the sound of their instrument.
Pitch Raise
A piano that has been neglected for a long time will not be able to have a standard tuning service performed on it. Bringing a piano in this shape up to tension will add thousands of pounds of additional tension requiring extra time and cost to accomplish. In the worst cases it will also require another visit within a short amount of time before being stable.
Regulation
A properly regulated piano produces:
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A keyboard that feels uniform from note to note
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A keyboard that is responsive to rapid-fire fingerings and clean phrasings
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A keyboard that commands a broad dynamic range
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A keyboard that allows the player to express themselves completely
What is involved in a piano regulation? (Partial List)
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Alignments - Strings to hammers; whippens to knuckles; jacks in windows; jacks to knuckles; replever height; back checks to hammers.
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Blow distance, let off, drop, back check, butterfly springs, and after touch set.
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Tune - Pitch set to A440 (if possible)
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Regulate Back Action - Check damper lift off key sticks; check damper timing and lift off tray; adjust lost motion in damper pedal.
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Regulate Shift/Soft Pedal
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Regulate Sostenuto Function and Pedal
Voicing
Piano Repair
Every piano has its own unique tonal characteristics. Many of those qualities are due to the engineering in the scale and sound board design. However, it is your piano’s hammers that permit these integral designs to bloom. The hammers are one of the major components that give a piano its own distinctive voice. Voicing involves the manipulation of hammer felt and other mechanical components in order to build and optimize the tonal spectrum inherent in the piano. If when speaking to your technician you mention that your piano sounds too bright, dark, loud, soft, sharp, dull, brittle, deep, woody, uneven, or dead you could benefit from voicing.
Often a piano can benefit from a technician with the knowledge of how to voice to bring up just a section to match the rest of the piano, or even an individual note.
Piano Cleaning
A Partial List of Typical Repairs for Grands and Uprights:
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Broken Strings – Splicing & Replacing
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Sticky Keys
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Sluggish Action Parts
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Loose Action Parts
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Fractured Key Sticks
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Hammer Reshaping
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Problem Hammer Shanks
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Noises – Buzzes, Rattles, and Clicks Diagnostic
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Pedal Issues – Damping, Shifting, Sostenuto, and Pedal Trap
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Damper Troubles - After-ring, Swooshing
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Malfunctioning Notes
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Glue Joint Failure
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Artist Bench Problems
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Sound Board, Plate, and Interior Cleaning
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Full Service Visits Available
Whether simply cleaning the keys, or a deep cleaning involving removing cabinet parts, action and keys, we have the level of cleaning that is right for you and your piano.