Piano Restoration
    Most of my rebuilding work is on Steinway pianos. Restoring your piano requires that we first carefully examine it’s overall condition & potential value.
 I will only recommend a complete restoration on high quality pianos. These can potentially be worth as much or more than the repair costs, once work has been completed. Cost of a new comparable piano can be twice that of a complete restoration, or more! That said, there are many new pianos available for less money.
   When considering the restoration of a piano it helps to divide it into 3 separate areas. A brief description would be as follows:
Stringing or belly: Removing the strings & dampers, then the cast iron plate. This allows us to repair or replace  the soundboard,  bridges  and pinblock. Agraffes are replaced or reconditioned. New strings & tuning pins are installed, dampers are refelted, new plate felts installed. This is really the heart of the piano, it’s main structure.
Careful attention is given to all things that affect the tone of the piano. String termination, hammer to string mating and strikepoints, downbearing, bridge notching and pinning, and the structural integrity of the piano.
  Action & Keys: Custom action rebuilding on a Steinway or any quality grand piano involves careful attention to:
Selection and replacement of action components including whippens, hammers, shanks, flanges, back checks, keybushing felt, polishing or replacing keypins, keyframe felt.
Action geometry.
Friction.
Weight and balance of all keys and components.
The fine regulation of the action.
Voicing the piano and the action.
Careful attention is given to the downweight, upweight and balance weight of each key. This is collectively called touch weight and is a measurement of the actual energy that the player provides to depress the key. This is accomplished through controlling the friction, leverage, geometry and the weight of the keys and action components. Every action is optimized
 If you are the owner of a Steinway or other quality grand piano and you are unhappy with the touch of the action, a situation that is more common than you might think, I can help.
 By either working with the existing components, or replacing some or all of them, I can change your piano into an instrument you will love to play.
   Cabinet refinishing: To make your piano look, as well as sound & play like new. Includes duplicating historical decals, buffing or plating hardware. Cabinet is stripped, repaired, sanded, stained, then refinished with lacquer.
   A partial restoration is often feasible by addressing only 1 or 2 of these areas in whole or in part.
Stringing & refinishing work usually require bringing the piano to our shop.
   Through out the restoration process my primary concern is not only to make your piano look like the work of art that it is, but, to play and sound at it's absolute best.
   Be sure to take a look at Shop Tour as well as the FAQ's for more information.
Questions? Like to schedule an estimate? contact Fenton Murray, RPT