Crisis over: I’ve found my phone down the side of my bed and replied to the text messages people sent me over the last few days.

In other news, I had another piano tuning in Scarborough yesterday which went well. Another 80-year-old overdamper which, aside from being a whole tone flat, was in reasonable condition. If you know anyone in the Whitby/Scarborough area who needs a piano tuner, please let them know (I’m up there every other weekend) that I’m trying to build a seperate customer base in that area. I have no problem travelling outside of Sheffield (I regularly drive to Rotherham, Chesterfield, Doncaster, Swinton, Mexborough, etc to tune pianos) and will make visits to relatives in that area (some live in Scarborough, some live in Robin Hood’s Bay) so the long journey is no problem for me.

– Richard, Piano Tuner Sheffield.

To any musos who are reading, I’m starting to upload videos of me improvising over backing tracks on guitar. Growing up I was more of a metal, blues, classical and classic rock guy, but over the last few years I’ve been listening to a lot of jazz (mainly light/smooth jazz and  fusion artists such as Jonas Hellborg, Shawn Lane, and Jean-Luc Ponty) and incorporating some of that style into my playing. If you’re a pianist (you might even be a piano tuning customer of mine!) and would like a jam, as long as you’re in Sheffield or nearby, I’m usually free in the evenings!

I also play the piano and the drums just as much as guitar, but I’m not as proficient on those instruments (I’ve played guitar a lot longer; I started when I was 9).

On the piano tuning front, I was busy in December 2015 but it died down a bit around Christmas and New Year, as expected. If you would like to book a piano tuning now would be a very good time as I’ve got a lot of free spaces available in my diary, and I won’t be leaving Sheffield for the next month or two (as I’ve mentioned before, I often go to Robin Hood’s Bay on weekends and sometimes tune pianos in the Whitby and Scarborough area).

– Richard, Piano Tuner Sheffield

Monday 10 A.M.

Monday 2 P.M.

Tuesday 2 P.M.

Wedensday 10 A.M.

Wednesday 2 P.M.

Wednesday 5 P.M.

Thursday 10 A.M.

(Contact me for future bookings)

I am about to write another post about piano repair & regulation as well as a seperate post about piano tuning that I will finish and post on Saturday. I’ve had a full day of piano tuning in Sheffield today, and will have a full day of tuning 3 pianos at a school in Darnall (the other side of Sheffield near Rotherham) tomorrow, so I haven’t had the chance.

–  Richard, Piano Tuner Sheffield

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

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.

Finally, a blog post not related to piano tuning! A local Sheffield/Barnsley band Harmony of Spheres (which I play guitar in) is looking for a new keyboard player. We’re a progressive rock band in the style of Genesis, Rush, Yes, Pink Floyd and Marillion, and while we’re planning on introducing originals into the set, at the moment we’re predominantley playing covers of said bands (and others). The only requirements are a good level of technical skill (we’re trying to play the songs as they are on the album) and a love of the genre.  Practices are usually held at the Back to Black studios in Barnsely, which I’ve found is easy enough to drive to after a day piano tuning in Sheffield.

Please email me or send a message to the Harmony of Spheres facebook page if you or anyone you know is interested.

Recently, while out in Sheffield piano tuning, I was asked cleaning the piano, so I decided to make a quick post about cleaning the piano for my customers out there in Sheffield, south yorkshire and derbyshire.

To clean the outside of the piano, use a damp cloth followed by a clean, dry cloth. You can do the same for the action and insides of the piano, or you could use a feather duster. To clean the keys, it depends whether you have plastic or ivory keys. For ivory keys use a damp cloth and gentle soap, while plastic keys should be cleaned with a solution of vinegar and warm water. A consideration to take into account is that you are gentle while cleaning it and that yo aren’t using any chemicals that could stain the piano. Any questions, email me at richard@pianotunersheffield.co.uk

– Richard Lidster, Piano Tuner Sheffield.

I might be 10 years behind the times but I’ve finally got into the swing of this Facebook malarkee. I’m aiming for my piano tuner Sheffield page to get 100 likes so that more people in Sheffield and South Yorkshire are aware of my piano tuning business. While a piano tuning business might seem like a strange thing to ‘like’, it would be helpful if anyone in agreement would do so, that way anyone who needs a piano tuner and hasn’t thought to look one up might be reminded by seeing my page.

– Richard, Piano Tuner Sheffield.

If you are considering moving a piano then I recommend hiring a piano mover (unless you’re moving the piano from one room to another on the same floor, have a team with you and really know what you’re doing). I have never hired a piano mover in Sheffield so I’m not sure of the cost or any companies in the local area of South Yorkshire, but piano removals cost me £100 last time I had a second hand piano brought to my house (from one side of Sheffield to another).

Being the fragile things that they are, pianos will go out of tune while they are being moved, so unless you want to sound like you’re playing in a 1870s western salon, then you will have to hire a piano tuner after the piano has been moved. It’s something to keep in mind if you have recently had your piano tuned, perhaps it might be an idea to wait 6 months before moving it!

– Richard Lidster, Piano Tuner Sheffield.

– Richard, Piano Tuner Sheffield.

I now have a facebook, set up mainly to talk with some musicians from Barnsely I’ve been jamming with, but I thought about using it to stay in touch with piano tuning customers as well. Feel free to add me on there if it’s your preferred medium, although I’d rather use it specifically for band and piano tuning business, rather than to add friends for the sake of it. All the people I get on with I see regularly, so I don’t see the point of social networking side.

Rather than setting up a business page as ‘Piano Tuner Sheffield’ I thought I’d make this so use the chat function to keep in touch with fellow muzos and piano tuning customers.

The address: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009934928406

– Richard Lidster, Piano Tuner Sheffield.