New German Abel hammers, all new felts, new bridle straps, metal polish, cabinetry refinish (Mike Smith), regulation, major deep cleaning between all parts, lubrication
Pricing Chart
Payments accepted: cash, check, PayPal, and Venmo.
FEES
First Time Tuning Service Estimates
Fine Tuning:
1.5 - 2 hrs
$125
My starting price for a fine tuning is $120. Commonly the charge is $140 (coarse and fine tuning).. If your piano is tuned regularly...about every 6-9 months, it may only need a fine tuning. (Your piano must be within 5% of A440.)
Setting a piano's average tuning to a place close to standard A440 so a fine tuning can hold. If your piano is more than 10% off, a pitch raise will be necessary. See below for more details.
I run into this scenario regularly. This type of tuning is slightly exhausting, but it is important to do multiple tunings so as to reduce risk of breaking strings. If your piano is 30% or more off, I will probably need to do two pitch raises to prep for an accurate fine tuning.
Three or More Coarse tunings & Fine Tuning: 3+ hrs
$190+ ?
I call this a Frankenstein revival--when three pitch raises are necessary. I come across this scenario more and more often. A triple pitch raise is a serious job to undertake--it's exhausting, time consuming, and actually I don't recommend it all in one session as it can be too stressful for the piano's soundboard. This is the case sometimes when a piano has been sitting a decade or more...and is 50% or more out (a quarter step +). Often other jobs need to occur to help the piano perform better.
Player Pianos (Upright)
$140 starting price for fine tuning; $30 extra per pitch raise
Upright player pianos are more challenging to work on and typically take longer as a tuner needs to work around the player mechanism (or some disassembling may be required depending on the make/model). I start at a minimum of $140 for simply a fine tuning, though most player pianos I come across need more than one round, which is not fun or easy to work on considering the obstructions.
Grand-style player pianos are typically much easier to work on than upright player pianos as the mechanism does not typically interfere with the tuning process. If that is the case, normal prices above would apply.
Subsequent Services
Follow-up Fine Tuning
2 to 6 months after previous services:
1 - 2 hrs
$110-120
I'll consider doing a Fine Tuning for this price if (1) we schedule regular follow ups for every 6 months or less and (2) the relative humidity in your home is stable (close to 42% relative humidity yearly). If you crank up your heat a lot in the dry winter months and use heavy AC in the humid summer months this may not work:) Either way, manufacturers recommend getting your piano tuned every 6 months.
9 to 12 months after:
1 - 2 hrs
$120-130
Fine Tuning, plus minor
repairs and adjustments (if done at least annually).
Thorough Cleaning:
1/2 hr - 3 hrs
$50-250
Removing and vacuuming beneath the keys, really shining up each white key, brightening strings with steel wool, dusting beneath the hard-to-reach grand strings, vacuuming throughout entire piano, nice cabinet polish with cheesecloth to finish up.
Evaluation:
1/2 - 1 hr
$50-75... depending on travel time.
Purchasing a new or used piano and want its condition assessed? I will evaluate it for you before you purchase it and give you a detailed review of the piano's over-all condition, focused condition of the 1000s of working parts, inherent sound quality, keyboard touch and sensitivity, and overall musicality to suit your needs and budget. Cost may be a little higher if travel time is significant.
Coarse Tuning (Pitch Raise): 1/2 hr - 1.5 hrs
About $1 per 1% out when 20% or worse (e.g., if a piano is 50% flat, $50 on top of the $120 fine tuning)
Bringing a piano's mean tuning back up to the standard A440... the global pitch for in-tune pianos. Tuning a piano to itself can leave it dull rather than the brilliance that the piano can offer. Might take a piano a little time to settle in to the new overall tuning, requiring a follow-up visit for touch ups.
Partial regulation
of the piano's action. Sticky notes? Keys not level? A partial regulation should take care of those issues.
This is a completely different job than tuning a piano: tightening and adjusting necessary action parts...which has nothing to do with tuning the strings.
This work will be completed in your home. Price will coincide with the amount of time the job takes.
Complete regulation
of the piano's action. Going over the action with a fine tooth comb--
tightening and regulating all 3,000+ adjustments.
I'll be taking your piano's action home with me to work on cleaning and going over every square inch to bring the functionality back to original factory feel (as close as possible).
Adjusting the tone quality, dynamic range, evenness from note to note, and balance from section to
section.
All
Day Service:
8 hrs
$450
Tune,
Regulate, Voice, Repair
General Hourly Work
$60/hr
This includes misc. work: replacing strings, which can take different amounts of time depending on the piano type and ease of access, other busy work.
TUNING
REQUIREMENTS
1) You should
allow two to three hours (may be on the longer side if the piano has not been maintained)
2) Please plan on having a quiet home during the tuning: no vacuum cleaners, loud TV in next room, lawn mowers, loud fans, don't do the dishes or run the dishwasher, garbage disposal, loud conversation, rotary saws, etc.
3) Payment
should be made
at the time of service
4) Please remove all items from the top of your piano in advance
Yearly Tuning
I took this snapshot from a great book called "The Piano Book" by Larry Fine. About 7 months flat, and 5 months sharp. I feel like New Jersey is more like 8 flat and 4 sharp...maybe near the ocean. Also greatly depends on the climate within a house: air conditioned summers and dry heat winters.
Coarse Tuning (Pitch Raise)
If
your piano has not been tuned for a long time (a year or more), it
could
be a quarter step (or more) out of tune. As a result,
bringing
the piano up to pitch could add over two tons of pressure to
the
frame and plate. This might require tuning the piano two or
more
times to equalize the tension along the entire harp of the
piano. If the piano is way out of tune and this is not done, as one section of the piano is tuned, the warping
effect causes the other sections to go out of tune -- the piano fights itself.
If there are
major problems
with your piano, such as cracked bridges, tuning pins that are
extremely
loose, rusted or corroded strings, it might not be possible to raise
the
pitch to the correct tension (without some major repair or rebuilding
work). There also might be the possibility of breaking strings.
If you would
like to know
in advance if your piano needs a pitch raise, you can call and play
several
of your notes over the phone, I will be glad to measure the difference
from the standard (A=440HZ). If the note is 10% or more off, it
will
need a pitch raise. I generally prefer doing a fine tuning only when the coarse tuning is within 5%...then I can do a really accurate fine tuning.
Scheduling
regular tunings
two to four times a year should help in alleviating most major pitch
problems.
MY "PITCH RAISE" PRICING FORMULA -- When a piano is 20+ cents flat (or sharp), I charge about $1 for each percent that your piano is out of tune, which turns out costing approximately $30 for each 30-minute coarse pitch change (pre-tension adjustment). If a piano is severely out of
tune (say, 50% of the way toward the next 1/2 step down or more), we might want to consider a gradual
increase
over a few months to a year depending on the stability of the piano's strings and how much time we are available for that session. This would allow the strings to
adjust
to the tension increase of tuning it probably 3-4 times, and help in avoiding the cost of replacing
broken
strings. Though the upper wire is not wildly expensive, each wound low string is a special order from Mapes - $30 each.
