Aardvark Piano Restorations Piano Repairs

At Aardvark Piano Restorations / Aardvark Piano Restorations we offer a complete acoustic piano repair service (sorry folks, no electric keyboards) featuring time honored traditional craftsmanship. An accurate estimate is given prior to any repair work and your satisfaction is always guaranteed. The following list represents a few of the more common repairs encountered in the field with approximate cost.

Sticking Keys

In most cases involving upright pianos, this repair is performed at no charge when a tuning is booked at the same time; otherwise a minimum $60 fee is standard. When a grand piano has keys that stick, the action must be removed and partially disassembled. If the repair is done concurrent with a tuning, usually this procedure can be completed for an additional $25 plus the cost of the tuning.

Hammer Resurfacing

Eventually, with normal use the hammers will begin to develop grooves where they make contact with the strings. The hammer felt begins to compress and the piano sounds brighter while at the same time loosing much of it's dynamic range. It becomes increasingly difficult to play quiet passages in a piece of music or fine tune the instrument. The cost to file and reshape a full set of hammers is $85. This procedure can be performed either in the shop or at your location. Some minor voicing is done at the same time.

Key Top Replacement

Chipped or missing white key tops can be a significant distraction for most students or accomplished pianists. If there are only a couple of ivory key tops missing, many times an acceptable replacement can matched from our collection and reattached, sanded and polished. If however, many keys are damaged and discolored, it is recommended that the entire set be replaced. The cost to replace a complete set of plastic keytops is $275-325 depending on materials used.

Broken String

It's important to have any broken string replaced as soon as possible in order to prevent damage to the corresponding hammer. Treble string replacement is generally $20. A single bass string will cost approximately $30 repinned and replaced, or $20 repaired.

Voicing

Voicing corrects the unevenness in tone on some pianos. For a piano to be properly voiced, it must first be tuned; therefore, a fine tuning should first be scheduled followed immediately by a voicing session which is billed at $60 per hour.

Asian pianos which inherently have a very bright tone especially in the high treble range can be voiced to have a more mellow "American tone," upon request.

These are just a few of the most common repairs. Others are quoted as needed.

Please contact us if you need something repaired.

Your present piano can also be restored to immaculate condition, like our showroom pianos in your choice of color, finish and key covering. The instrument's touch and response can be custom tailored to your individual playing style.