Category Archives: North Yorkshire Piano Tuner

A big thank you to my Sheffield Piano Tuning patrons

I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who has booked me in recent months. I’m extremely happy with the workflow since the restrictions were lifted – business has improved exponentially. After a seriously rough 2020-21 it’s very nice/pleasing to see people becoming more confident about having tradespeople into their homes. There’s an obvious build up of people who have postponed booking the piano tuner throughout these difficult times – it’s even more noticeable in a big city like Sheffield.

My rates remain extremely competitive for those in Sheffield and nearby areas who need a new piano tuner. Taking into account the price of fuel, it’s always a delight to have a day of piano tuning where all the jobs are close to home. Part and parcel of the trade is travel and which I see as par for the course – 90% of the time a long drive is taken as an opportunity to catch up on my music listening (after a long day of concentrating on overtones and pitch, I enjoy listening to music all the more). On my ‘Sheffield and South Yorkshire piano tuning’ days it does feel like I’ve both reduced my carbon footprint and saved money, however.

I’d also like to thank anyone in the other areas I cover for your custom. If you’ve struggled to find a piano tuner who would come out to your area, I’m glad that my willingness to travel has helped you.

Pianoversary

This month marks the 10 year anniversary of my piano tuning “career”, when I enrolled on my piano tuning and repair course back in August 2011.

What made me decide to become a piano tuner? Long, long ago back I was a youth not long out of school, deciding what I wanted to do as a job, I was watching my own piano being tuned and serviced by another Sheffield piano tuner. I was interested in his technique and had questions about how he learned such a unique skill. I knew I wasn’t the archetypal piano man, but I’d always had a good ear for music and the moving mechanical parts interested me. At the time I wasn’t doing very much apart from reading books and listening to music, but the clock was ticking and I knew I should learn a profitable skill as soon as possible to avoid drifting. I thought piano tuning be a nice way to earn a comfortable living doing something moderately enjoyable and that not too many other people could do.

Was becoming a piano tuner a good decision? It depends on the day you ask me. The work itself is rewarding, but building a clientele in a declining industry has been a long, difficult slog and the battle is not yet won. Some weeks the money is very good, but suddenly there’s a drop off and it’s not always easy to predict when and why. I think it would have been a more satisfying job in the 1980s or earlier when pianos were ubiquitous and taken more seriously. However, there are signs of a piano revival which is nice to see.

What I hadn’t anticipated was how expensive piano parts would be to have in stock. I generally like to have back up action parts with me to avoid any second visits to the customers home and have been successful in this regard. But the sheer number of felts, hammers, springs, flanges, screws, glues, files, bridle tapes, strings, jacks, wippens, key coverings that I need to have in the car has taken years to build up. Unfortunately there isn’t an ‘industry standard’ for each part, as each piano is a different size and many are built in different countries and by different brands.

Now taking early morning bookings

For home bookings I can now book you in for a piano tuning at 8:30 AM or 9 AM on a week day morning. I have hitherto saved early morning slots for professional venues such as schools, churches, recording studios, but those enquires have sadly declined somewhat over the last sixteen months – particularly schools.

From my experiences piano tuning in Sheffield and beyond, I have found people have wildly different views on booking tradespeople to their homes under current circumstances, but rest assured I am taking the covid-19 precautions very seriously, with frequent testing and following all procedures that keep the customer happy. The customer is always right and your wishes will be respected.

I will rearrange a booking at the slightest sign of any symptoms. I’m vaccinated and very careful to social distance and regularly sanitise work hands, car and piano tuning kit (particularly the piano tuning lever and paps wedges that I regularly handle throughout the day). If you have any concerns, I’d be happy to discuss it with you before you book the piano tuning.

 

Calling Yorkshire Piano Owners

For the last few months I’ve made a concerted effort to expand my business to other parts of Yorkshire and Derbyshire. While most of my piano tuning work in the past has been based around Sheffield, South Yorkshire and Derbyshire, I have started making more trips to other towns and cities, doing a huge amount of promotion in Manchester, Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield, Dewsbury, York, Harrogate, Hull, Bridlington, Whitby and Scarborough. If you or anyone you know is in search of a piano tuner, I am currently targeting the following towns:

  • Rotherham
  • Doncaster
  • Barnsley
  • Chesterfield
  • Derby
  • Stoke-on-Trent
  • Manchester
  • Rochdale
  • Huddersfield
  • Halifax
  • Bradford
  • Wakefield
  • Pontefract
  • Leeds
  • Batley
  • Wakefield
  • Bradford
  • Keighley
  • Scunthorpe
  • Grimsby
  • Selby
  • Goole
  • Hull
  • Hornsea
  • Driffield
  • York
  • Harrogate
  • Thirsk
  • Northallerton
  • Richmond
  • Scarborough
  • Whitby
  • Middlesborough

If you or anyone you know live in one of these areas, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Travel is not an issue for me, I have my own transport and am happy to make a long visit for piano tuning (although for the foreseeable future there will be an extra £5 charge for fuel costs if I have to make a journey outside Sheffield). Although I live in still live in Sheffield, much of my social life and piano tuning now takes place in North and West Yorkshire.

Richard, Piano Tuner Sheffield.