Monthly Archives: October 2015

Re-stringing

If your piano breaks a string while I’m tuning it I will have to make a second visit to re-string it. Leaving a string off can cause uneven wear to the hammer felt causing more regulating work in the long run, so the best course of action is  to put another string on the piano as soon as possible. This is just something that happens from time to time (it’s not the fault of the piano tuner!), every piano will break a string or two in its lifetime. Luckily re-stringing is a fairly quick and simple job. At the end of a piano tuning session I will measure the string with a micrometre so I can gauge the correct size (piano strings come in different sizes unfortunatley). I will ask to make another visit in a few weeks time (I will have to order a new piano string and wait for the delivery) and on that visit I will charge you the price I paid for the new string.
Pianos aren’t re-strung all at once in the way string instruments usually are. Piano strings are much thicker and strung at a higher tension. A piano tuner/technician may decide to re-string the copper bass strings if they begin to rust and lose tonal quality, but as a rule, piano strings are only replaced individually when necessary.

 

[Sorry for the rushed post, I’ve just finished my morning piano tuning in Sheffield and I’m about to leave for a weekend of piano tuning in Scarborough. I might go into this in more detail in a future post, but I think most customers get the gist of the re-stringing process from this post.]

 

– Richard, Piano Tuner Sheffield.

Available times this coming week: October 12th – 18th, 2015

Monday 19th @ 10 A.M.
Monday 19th @ 6 P.M.
Tuesday 20th @ 12 P.M.
Wednesday 21st @ 2 P.M.
Wednesday 21st @ 6 P.M.
Thursday 22nd @ 10 A.M.
Thursday 22nd @ 6 P.M.

– Or Contact me for future bookings.

 

(I am unavailable next weekend as I will be in Robin Hoods Bay visiting family and tuning pianos in Scarborough. I will be back in Sheffield sunday afternoon, so it would be possible to book a piano tuning late afternoon or evening on Sunday if you have a busy schedule. Otherwise, I will be back to normal next week, tuning around Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley, Doncaster, Chesterfield and the rest of South Yorkshire as usual.)

– Richard, Piano Tuner Sheffield.

New piano tuning/regulating tools purchases

For customers who have had to have their key bushings replaced, this relatively time-consuming job may be avoided in future, in part thanks to Howard Piano Industries whose website educated me on this matter (In my spare time I still like to read up on the subject of piano tuning and regulation as it’s a hobby as much as a job for me). While browsing various websites I discovered another piano tuner who swears by PTFE powder as a lubricant on key bushings, so I ordered some online from Fletcher & Newman via amazon UK. After a piano tuning in the Sharrow area of Sheffield, I applied some of this powder to the bushings and low and behold, the sticking keys worked perfectly. This powder will be an invaluable part of my piano tuning/regulating tool kit in future. Not only can it fix problems with the key bushings, it can also be used to lubricate the Hammer Butt leather and Wippen felts, other sources excess friction coming from inside the action.

I have also ordered new key bushings, some new bass and treble strings and am now looking at upgrading my piano tuning lever and lever heads. Annoyingly, I couldn’t think of a place in Sheffield that would sell piano strings, so I ordered them online. Even though I’m 26, my parents still insist on buying me a christmas present, so I have asked if they would buy a new, top-quality lever for me.

 

– Richard, Piano Tuner Sheffield.

Message to my customers in the north yorkshire are (Scarborough, Whitby and Robin Hood’s Bay)

I will be visiting family in the beautiful Robin Hood’s Bay in the upcoming weeks. As usual, I shall have my piano tuning kit so that I can book any jobs while I’m there. I already have one piano tuning booked on the 24th October at 10 A.M. but anyone else would like a book on the following dates, I’m more than happy to book you in. The dates I’m in Robin Hood’s Bay are:

 

Saturday the 24th October – Sunday the 25th October

Saturday the 31st October – Sunday the 1st of November

Saturday the 14th November – Sunday the 15 of November

 

I leave my house in Sheffield on the friday afternoon, arrive in Robin Hood’s Bay on friday evening and leave around 5 P.M. in the evening on Sunday. If there are any Sheffield customers who would like their piano tuning on one of these weekends, I can only fit you in on a sunday night in the late evening.

 

– Richard, Piano Tuner Sheffield.

 

– Richard Lidster

A warning about Lindner (Shannon-Ireland model) pianos

I was called out for a piano tuning in Ecclessall, Sheffield a few days ago. While the piano had a beautiful oak finish as well as a very nice touch and tone, I would not recommend purchasing these pianos second hand. The actions are made from plastic parts, including bits of string instead of bridle tapes, clip-on plastic flanges rather than wooden screw on – all unique to this particular model. If something breaks, it is not likely to be repairable (without spending more money than the piano itself is worth), as many of the parts are no longer made. In this particular piano several flanges had broken and were lose, leading me to make a desperate attempt to repair them and stick them back on to the action with super glue (surprisingly, a previous piano tuner/technician, now retired, had a stuck one flange back on blue tack or some sort of chewing gum, though it seemed to have done the job!). The customer had owned the piano for 40 years, and while she was disappointed that the action was broken beyond repair, she had been previously told by another Sheffield piano tuner that once one action part breaks with these pianos it won’t be mendable. An online search later that evening confirmed my suspicions, with many piano tuners bemoaning the design of this type of action and the manufacturers use of cheap materials unique to this brand. Had I been able to fix the broken flanges, the piano would likely have lasted another 5 to 10 years at the most, as it was already at an age where it was rapidly disintegrating. In the end I advised looking for a newer piano in one of piano shops in Sheffield or on ebay (note: be careful of what pianos you buy on ebay, many people try to get rid of old pianos that aren’t worth the shipping fee).

– Richard Lidster, Piano Tuner Sheffield.