03/01/2024
A while back I got a call from a customer who said that their piano had a key that felt heavier than the others. They called me to come and look at it.
A piano tuner from the Wilmington area had told them that the keyboard needed to be completely rebuilt and that it would be an expensive job.
After looking it over, I quickly realized that the hammer butt return springs (pictured below) were not aligned. A few of them were sitting in one groove, making that individual note feel 5x heavier. I assume this other tuner dropped his mute in the action while tuning, and mangled up the springs while retrieving it.
All in all, this “rebuild” job took about 2 minutes for me to diagnose and repair. Any good technician would be able to fix this problem quickly and easily because it’s something we learn on Day 1 in training.
The customer was very happy that his keyboard was playing like normal again and informed me that this other tuner touted his “18 years of experience” when questioned.
Any tuner who couldn’t diagnose this problem likely didn’t have proper training.
I say all of this to say that sometimes, what appears to be big problems have costly solutions. Other times, the solutions are quite simple. Only a qualified technician can tell the difference.
I apprenticed under a Registered Piano Technician of 60+ years and full-time ECU technician of 34 years, Don Wigent, RPT. I worked under his mentorship for a couple of years before starting my business in 2020.
If you have a piano in need of tuning, regulation, or repair, call today and I’ll make sure your piano is taken care of!
(910) 333-4353
