Common questions about piano

restoration, rebuilds, and repairs

Why choose Amro for your piano restoration needs?

Our customers recognize that restoring, refinishing and repairing valuable pianos, particularly Steinways, is sometimes a viable alternative to purchasing a new piano. High-quality pianos are investments that retain and increase in value, and  Amro only uses high-quality replacement parts, and only Steinway parts for Steinway restorations.  In addition to the highest quality parts and materials, Amro employs a staff of experienced, certified technicians, many of whom have trained at the Steinway factory in New York.

Keys with burn and damage	Piano keys after Amro has restored them

From concert pianos, priceless antiques to family heirlooms, we’ll arrange for safe moving of your piano by reliable movers to and from our facility. All of our complete restorations are protected by a five-year parts and labor warranty. Loaner pianos are available during your restoration process. We have before-and-after photos of a variety of projects to show you the potential to transform your family heirloom or institutional piano.

Why choose Amro Music for your refinishing needs?

Piano refinishing is a specialty trade and requires knowledge and experience with the various types of wood veneers used in the manufacture of pianos. Because refinishing and touch-up are such specialized skills, we only employ the most skilled and experienced craftsmen for all cabinet restoration.   If your piano has a nick, ring, scratch, fading or other imperfection in the finish, give us a call and we can return it to its original beauty, oftentimes in your home.  Unlike many shops that only work with lacquer, our finish specialists are skilled in polyester and polyurethane repair & polishing as well.

Damaged Case	Case repaired by Amro Music

Why won’t my piano hold a tune?

     Normally, the deterioration of the pinblock triggers problems with tuning stability.  Time and exposure to fluctuations of humidity can cause laminated pinblocks to separate, losing their ability to successfully hold sufficient torque on the tuning pins to maintain tuning stability.  Some lesser-quality new pianos suffer from marginal tuning stability due to poor design, workmanship or materials.

My piano tuner said that my piano can't be tuned to standard pitch. What does this mean?

      Older pianos that have compromised pinblocks may not have sufficient torque to hold pitch at A440 (currently standard pitch).  A440 refers to 440 cycles per second for the A above middle C on a piano.  Earlier in the 1900s, standard pitch changed from A435 to A440 as piano technology allowed the instruments to withstand higher tensions.  Some older pianos have rusty or otherwise compromised strings that tend to break when the technician increases their tension in the process of tuning and pitch raise.  If the piano can withstand the added tension and the strings are in good condition, a piano can be raised to standard pitch using a pitch raise technique.  This entails rough-tuning the piano one time by raising the pitch above standard, then tuning the piano a second time for fine-tuning.  This process is more time-consuming and costs more than a standard tuning.  It is best to tune your piano regularly to avoid having to pay for a pitch raise.

Why replace hammers? Why and when is it necessary?

      Piano hammers are the felts that strike a string to make sound and are subject to the greatest wear, much like the tires on a car.  After years of use, hammers wear out and need to be replaced.   Pianos in higher usage situations, such as in practice rooms, recording studios, or teaching studios may need to need hammer replacement as often as every 5 to 10 years.

      If hammers are simply grooved and there is still sufficient felt remaining, they may be reshaped and filed in order to return them to the proper shape and hardness.  High-quality pianos such as Steinways can be easily voiced by manipulating the hammers with voicing needles and other techniques.

      In addition to hammer replacement, there are a number of other operations that need to be performed to bring the piano back to original factory specifications.   Parts connected to the hammers (called shanks, flanges, and knuckles) often need to be replaced at the same time.  At the minimum, when a piano receives a new set of hammers, it needs to be re-regulated and re-voiced.

What is restringing and why and when is it needed?

      Restringing is the replacement of the piano's strings, usually as a complete set of bass and treble strings. A piano is generally restrung when the strings lose their tone quality and resilience for a number of possible reasons.  The point at which this happens varies from piano to piano and depends on a variety of factors, including how much the piano is played, the environment in which it is housed, the quality of the strings themselves, and how they were handled (or mishandled) in installation and maintenance.  Essentially, when your piano stops sounding as deep, rich and resonant as it once did, when bass strings start to sound dead or muffled and the overall sound becomes tinny and thin, then it is probably time to consider restringing.

      Strings can become stretch-hardened from heavy use or repeated tunings, or they can become rusty or oxidized from exposure to excessive humidity or moisture.  Airborne dust can lodge in the windings of bass strings and cause them to go dead or muffled over time. Windings of bass strings frequently come loose. Careless handling at the factory or re-builder's can cause strings to have twists or kinks in them that can ruin the string from the start. And every now and then the piano maker will get a bad batch of wire from the string manufacturer.  In addition, if a piano's tuning pins have become loose in the pinblock, it's standard procedure to replace the strings along with the tuning pins and/or pinblock. Whenever work is done on any part of the piano (such as the soundboard or the bridges) that cannot be accessed without removing the strings, all the strings are usually replaced as well.

       When a piano is restrung, it usually needs to be re-regulated and re-voiced. Unfortunately, this is not always done, resulting in an instrument that does not perform up to its potential.To keep costs down, sometimes a piano will be partially restrung with bass strings only.  Most often, though, if the bass strings are bad, the treble strings will have lost a significant amount of their tone as well and should be replaced.   When pianos are restrung, technicians often recommend replacing the damper felts as well since they are generally seated to the old strings and will not perform properly unless replaced.

For more information or to schedule services, please contact Heather Martin at (901) 474-6455 or email her here.