The modern piano consists of thousands of parts, which occasionally require adjustment and repair. Professional piano repair services St Louis MO can perform routine maintenance to keep your piano sounding and feeling its best.
Tuning
If some of the notes you play begin to sound strident, your piano probably needs tuning. Various factors interfere with proper string tension that ensures a harmonious sound, including:
- Excessive playing
- Humidity and temperature changes
- The piano’s recent stringing
- Movement of the entire piano
Tuning a piano up to twice a year can ensure that the strings remain appropriately taught.
Voicing
When you play your piano regularly, for long periods, its hammers’ felt heads flatten from repeatedly striking the strings. This flattening changes the felt density, making it less porous and leading to a change in tone, which gets brighter, with some notes sounding harsh. An experienced piano technician can open the spaces between the felt fibers with thin needles to restore a warmer tone when hammers and strings meet.
Regulation
Suppose you find that your piano does not produce a sound when you depress the keys softly, or you need to exert different degrees of pressure to create a sound throughout the keyboard. In that case, your piano needs to undergo regulation. The goal of this multi-step process ensures that every hammer strikes the appropriate string at the perfect angle and every key depresses the same distance as you play.
Humidity Control
An environment with consistent humidity and moderate temperature will promote your piano’s proper function. Consider using dehumidifiers during moist summer months and humidifiers during the dry winter season to prevent the rapid swelling and contraction of wood that can cause sluggish keys and cracks in vital parts, including the piano’s soundboard. Your piano technician can also install an automated humidity control device in your piano to help the soundboard maintain its vital sound amplification function.
Pianos that receive consistent care and maintenance can provide pianists with decades of pleasure.