Liam Ellis-Roberts

Piano tuning and maintenance

A piano that holds its pitch and answers the hand

Liam Ellis-Roberts works alone, one instrument at a time: tuning, the regulation that decides how the keys feel, the voicing that decides how they sound, and the small repairs that keep a note from dropping out altogether. Anything beyond the tuning is described and quoted before it is started, and every visit ends with a written note.

Request a visit How a visit goes

What a visit covers

Five kinds of work, listed in the order they are usually needed. A first visit is often only the first of them; the rest are described and quoted, never added on the day.

A

Tuning

Every string is brought back into relation with the others and with standard pitch, by ear and against a reference, one unison at a time. An instrument that has drifted a long way flat cannot be pulled up and left stable in a single pass: the first pass brings it roughly to pitch, the second settles it, and you are told before any of that starts whether yours is in that position.

Where an old instrument will not safely hold standard pitch, it is tuned to the pitch it does hold, and the reason is written down rather than argued about.

B

Regulation of the action

Tuning is about pitch; regulation is about touch. Key height and depth, the point where the hammer lets off, repetition, the moment the damper lifts — dozens of small adjustments that decide whether a quiet note speaks at all and whether a fast passage repeats.

Most pianos need only a handful of these put right rather than a full regulation, and the note after a visit says which ones and why.

C

Voicing the hammers

Hammer felt hardens where it strikes and the tone goes bright and thin, or packs down until the instrument sounds dull. The felt is shaped and needled a little at a time, note by note, until the range evens out. It is done slowly and on purpose, because it cannot be undone in the same afternoon.

D

Small repairs

A key that sticks down, a damper that lets a note ring on, a squeaking pedal rod, a broken string, a hammer that has come loose on its shank, a bass note buzzing against something that worked its way under the keybed.

These are the faults that make people stop using an instrument altogether, and most are an hour's work rather than a rebuild.

E

A look before you buy

A written description of what is actually in front of you: the state of the tuning pins and their grip, cracks in the bridges or soundboard, hammer wear, how far the action has left to go, and what it would take to make the instrument playable.

It is a description of condition and nothing more. It is not a valuation, not a price, and not a recommendation to buy or to walk away.

How a visit goes

The same four steps for a school upright and for a grand in a front room. Nothing is charged for that was not agreed before it was done.

  1. A few questions first

    The make and roughly the age, upright or grand, when it was last tuned, which room it stands in and what it is used for. That is usually enough to say what the visit should cover and how long it will take.

  2. Listening and measuring before touching

    How far the pitch has drifted, whether the pins still hold, how the action is set up and what is loose. If the instrument should not be tuned yet, you hear that before any pin is turned instead of afterwards.

  3. The work agreed, and nothing else

    The tuning is carried out. Anything found along the way — a regulation fault, a worn hammer, a repair — is written down with what it would cost, and left for you to decide on later.

  4. A written note afterwards

    What was done, the pitch the instrument was left at, what was deliberately left alone, what to keep an eye on, and when it would be sensible to have it looked at again.

Where the work stops

A one-person practice with a toolbag can do a great deal and cannot do everything. These are the things to take somewhere else, said plainly rather than discovered on the day.

Asked before the first visit

If yours is not here, write it on the request page and it comes back answered in writing.

How often does a piano need tuning?
It depends far more on the room than on how much the instrument is played. Timber moves with changes in humidity and the pitch moves with it, so a piano beside a window, a heater or an air conditioner drifts faster than one on an inside wall. The note left after a visit suggests when to look at yours again, based on what it actually did between tunings.
Mine has not been touched in years. Is it a lost cause?
Usually not, but it is rarely a one-visit job. An instrument that has been left alone for a long time has settled into a lower pitch, and bringing it up moves every string at once; it will sag again and need a second pass to settle. You are told that before the first visit, not invoiced for it afterwards.
Will a tuning fix a key that sticks?
No. Sticking keys, notes that ring on and pedals that squeak are regulation and repair work, which is separate from tuning and is quoted separately. They are often quick, but they are not included by default and are never added without being agreed.
Does the instrument need to be in a particular place?
It needs the keyboard reachable and the lid or top able to open, with the room quiet enough to hear a single string. If something has to be moved to make that possible, that is arranged beforehand with you, by whoever moves instruments.

Ready to have it looked at?

Say what the instrument is, roughly when it was last tuned and what is bothering you about it. You get an answer in writing with what the visit would cover before anything is booked.

Request a visit