Our Services
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. Since it is also such a large investment, it should be tuned and maintained with the utmost care.
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 or touch.
You can reduce the severity of these effects by placing your piano near a wall away from windows or doors that 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 nor dry, optimally at a temperature of 20C or 68F and 42% relative humidity.
Call Benny today at (519) 257-3096 and schedule your tuning or service to preserve your instrument and help you avoid costly repairs in the future.
Serving Windsor and Essex County
Piano Tuning
How often should I tune my piano?
Piano manufacturers recommend tuning twice a year. Once in the spring when the air becomes more humid, and again in the fall when the effect of a heating system starts to shrink the wooden components. If you have just purchased a new piano, it could require several tunings in the first year since the new strings will stretch as you play the piano causing it to sound out of tune.
How long will it take to tune my piano?
On average, it will take 1.0 - 1.5 hours to complete the tuning if the piano is in good working condition. If the piano has not been tuned in several years and requires a pitch raise tuning, it could take up to 2 hours to complete.
What is a "pitch raise" tuning?
If a piano hasn't been tuned in a long time, the strings will lose their tension and cause the piano to fall significantly out of pitch. For example, playing a "C" key sounds like a "B" or "Bb". In order to bring the piano back up to proper pitch, a more intensive tuning is required. To avoid this problem, pianos should be tuned annually.
How much does it cost?
The fee for a regular tuning is $120 and a pitch raise tuning is $160.
Piano Servicing
What is the piano's action and why does it need maintenance?
When you look inside your piano, you'll find a cast iron plate strung with steel and copper-wound strings over a large expanse of wood which is the soundboard. If you look closer, you'll discover an intricate system of levers, springs, and hammers connected to the keyboard.
The complex system which causes the hammer to strike a string is called the piano's action. It is a marvel of engineering composed largely of wood and wool felt. This mechanism needs to be responsive to every nuance of the pianist's touch -- from loud, thunderous chords to soft, delicate passages.
When a piano leaves the factory, each of its parts is adjusted to a tolerance of a few thousandths of an inch. This process is called action regulation. Because the wood and felt parts of the action may change dimension due to humidity and wear, the action must be serviced occasionally to maintain its responsive qualities.
What other servicing is required?
As mentioned above, there are many components within the action that can cause poor performance such as sticky keys, sustained sound when keys are let go, clicking sounds during playing, etc. Strings can also break due to age or tampering.
How much does servicing cost?
Depends on what's wrong with the piano. The good news is that most piano action parts are inexpensive to replace and sometimes the piano may only require adjustments to bring it back to optimal performance.
Do you provide estimates?
Service calls are $40 in Essex County and includes a complete inspection of the action, pedal mechanisms and strings. If you decide to go ahead with the repairs, the service call fee will be deducted from the final bill.
