Monthly Archives: December 2018

Sticky fingers on the piano

Pianos are often irresistible to children – as are chocolates and sweets. It’s lovely that they’re interested in music but you don’t want their sticky fingers on your piano keys! If you do find that the piano keys are sticky, they can be cleaned by the piano tuner on my next visit to your Sheffield home. I use a keybrite solution sold by my loyal piano tuning suppliers, but if you endeavour to clean them yourself, use a warm damp cloth followed by a dry cloth and make sure you keep the dirt from getting down the sides of the keys. For any other questions, call the Sheffield piano tuner.

Special hours for Scarborough, Bridlington and Filey piano tuning

A brief window of opportunity for piano tuning in Scarborough and North Yorkshire next week. I shall be able to fit a Scarborough piano tuning in at either 8 PM on Friday the 21st in the evening, or 8 AM on Saturday morning. If you live nearer to Bridlington, a piano tuning on Saturday afternoon would be perfect. I am not in area as much currently as my work demands me to stay in the Sheffield and Leeds areas, so this could be your only chance before 2019!

Merry Christmas

Richard

Piano of the week: The Kawai K-300

I had a call out earlier today to inspect a four-year-old Kawai upright for a buyer looking for a used piano. The buyer lived in Wiltshire whereas the seller lived in the area of Hansworth in Sheffield, so she needed a Sheffield piano tuner on the case (not literally)…

As always with pianos in this range, the tone is superb – mellower sounding than a Yamaha, but with a light touch and a similar ebony-polished aesthetic. Its Millennium III action is built from carbon-infused components resulting in a strong, sturdy and precise mechanism that can withstand loud playing for long periods of time without the need of regulation.

Even though the piano had been bought new four years ago and hadn’t been tuned since arrival, the pitch had stayed close to A440 with most notes being just two to three cents flat (with the unisons needed touching up of course). A quick testing of the keys gave me the impression that this would be an excellent choice for players looking for a wide a dynamic range – pianists who like to play both pianissimo and fortissimo. The surface texture of the jack (at the point where it meets the hammer) enables a great level of consistency in touch and the sturdiness of its action parts in general means much less regulation work is required of the piano tuner.

The music rack is wider than you typically find on an asian piano which is useful if you’re a pianist who switches between pieces on a regular basis. The music rack and fallboard are tightly fastened into place preventing any annoying drops while playing.

At 227 kg it’s not something that you’ll be able to move very easily, but the double casters are a nice touch that make it easier for professional piano movers to transport the piano. The piano in question had been moved upstairs without any damage to the case (although the credit there goes to the piano movers).

See for yourself: