TuningRepair.Com

 714-636-3122

 Piano tuner, movers, restorers 

Orange County &  Los Angeles

Welcome to Leo's

Perfect

PIANO REPAIRS

Quality repair far above the field

 

INTRODUCTION

 

Your 40 yr old piano has been sitting in the corner of your den forever and is covered with all sorts of junk. You sit down to play it and it sounds terrible.  You look inside and all you see is dirt and cobwebs. Your piano may be a candidate for reconditioning! When a piano is reconditioned it undergoes a thorough inspection of its working parts all defective parts are replaced, everything is aligned, tightened, lubricated, cleaned, and if necessary, the action is regulated — it can work wonders! The piano action is made of wood, felt, and a small amount of metal and buckskin. A piano which has been played a lot, whether heavily for a short period of time or less often for a long time, experiences wear and tear, especially on the felt parts,  hammers, shanks, and flanges.  These parts must be checked for breakage or near breakage due to wear and tear, or aging. Hammer heads becomes hard and loses its resiliency due to aging. The felt hammers become grooved, sometimes quite deeply, where they have been striking the strings. You can see this in an upright piano if you lift the lid and look straight down at the hammers from above. An experienced technician can recontour the hammers, restoring their original shape. This not only prolongs the life of the hammers, but often improves the tone of the piano. The felt punchings under the keys and other felt and buckskin can become compressed and/or misshapen. These can be replaced, but because this will change the relationships among the parts of the piano action, the piano will have to be regulated.   BEFORE (Action taken in to the shop for repairs) AFTER (Repaired action put back onto customer's piano)

Leo'S COMPLETE

LIST of PIANO REPAIRS 

(listed alphabetically)

 

Action Action felts replaced Action centers repinned Action felts replaced Action centers rebushed Action screws tightened Action lubricate all parts     Back checks Replace back check Regulate Back checks Replace back check buck skin leather   Bridle straps Replace bridle straps Checks Check for clicks Check for bobbles Check for weak parts Check for broken parts Check for squeaks or other noises Clean piano Clean soundboard Clean action Clean exterior cabinet Cracks Apply epoxy onto small bass bridge cracks Apply epoxy onto high treble cracks   Damper felts Replace damper lever felt Replace damper springs Lubricate damper rod Readjust damper   Elbow - replace Flanges (grand) Flange replace Flange realigned to move straight up/down Flange - adding thin paper shims under the flanges to compensate for sidewise off movement.   Jacks Jack replace Jack - clean and graphite Jack - reglue jack saddles   Hammers Hammer reshaping Hammer replacing Hammer rest rail setting Hammer align exactly in several angles and planes to get best tone   Key Repair Key Sticking Key Missing Key Broken   Key felt punchings - replace   keyframe Replace keyframe felt An  important part of a action rebuilding is to replace the action and keyframe felts.  These felt often become worn, hard, and compressed.   When worn and hard, a piano note played loudly and depressed deeply will feel like "hitting concrete" to the fingers. the pianist will feel like they are "hitting concrete." In addition, compressed or moth eaten felts can sound noisy. Keyframe felts are replaced to prevent these problems from occurring.  New felts also aid in the regulation process. Once the keyframe felts and keytops have been  replaced repaired, or polished, the keys must be readjusted for best touch. To do this small paper shims or punchings are placed under the keyframe felts. Key Levelling   Key levelling makes all the white ivory keys levelled. Small paper shims being insert under the key felts to adjust key level and keydip. In order to be able to insert paper shims under the felts to set the key level (or height of the keys in their "up" position) and to also set the key dip (or range of downward travel of the key) we temporarily place lead weights on the end of the keys to simulate the weight of the action.  This way, we can remove each individual key for adjustments and the key will rest at its proper height when placed in the keyframe.  After the white keys are adjusted, we set the black keys in relation to the white keys.  We use a special pair of tweezers,  to remove and replace the paper punchings under the felts. The device to the lower left in the bottom photo is to measure key height. Keys - Dipping Key dipping checks and adjusts the depth of each key depression. Small paper shims being insert under the key felts to adjust key level and keydip.   Key Rebushing Keytop Ivory Key Restoration   Knuckles - Tighten Pedal Refelt pedal Tighen pedal screws Lubricate pedal rod Regulation Regulate let-off Regulate back check Regulating Lost motion Voicing Shanks Shank replacing Shank align  to move straight up/down   Springs Jack springs replaced if weak or worn Strings   String repair   String replace   String de-rust steel strings   String clean copper strings Wippens   Wippens replaced     TOP

Welcome to Leo's MOVIE

"A Piano Key in Action"

GRAND PIANO KEY

UPRIGHT PIANO KEY (Click above to see)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I started playing piano when I was 7. And I started with classical lessons. Then I really got exposed to jazz. "

 Jazz Pianist Herbie Hancock

 

 www.PianoTuningRepair.com

 

TOP