You’ve decided to finally take the plunge and invest in your piano by having her restored to her original beauty. The best thing that you can do is to seek out a professional piano restorer — someone who has the judgment, knowledge, and proficiency to guide you when making such an expensive and important decision. We always recommend asking for referrals and opinions from friends and family when seeking out a Seattle piano restorer. Angie’s List, Yelp, Facebook and Google all have excellent review sections to help you research piano restorers in Seattle.

The key question you need to answer: when are major piano repairs appropriate?

When you are seeking out a professional, keep in mind a few important factors:

• The overall condition of the piano. Pianos that are subject to severe fire, flood, or moving damage may not be repairable, depending on the damage to the instrument.
• The quality, size, and type of the piano. In general, low-priced, smaller pianos of a poorer quality and design have limited potential. It might be a better option to buy a new piano of better quality and design.
• Does the cost of repairs exceed the price of replacement? This usually depends on the quality and size of the instrument. Smaller, lower-quality pianos may exceed the replacement price, but high-quality, large pianos may only cost half of the price to replace the instrument.
• Then there is the sentimental value of the piano to you and your family. If a piano has been in your family for generations, the value of the restoration can have a profound impact on you! Check out our video below of a piano restoration project we did in Portland. 

These guidelines on restoring your piano using a Seattle based piano restoration business should help you in trying to decide whether or not your piano is worth rebuilding or reconditioning. Again, ask for referrals from friends and family and read reviews online before making your decision on which piano restorer to use. Ultimately, this could help you save money in the long run, not needing to repair your piano again if it’s done well the first time.

A piano isn’t just a piece of the art of music, it is a masterpiece in itself. The machine is, to a great degree, complex and has a large number of moving parts. The piano is additionally one of only a handful of instruments out there that has stood the test of time. It has a gorgeous framework and a soundboard supporting string tension, all concealed by gorgeous finished cabinetry. The piano isn’t as delicate as different instruments, however it is subject to weakening over time. The felt wears, strings break, wooden structures weaken and split, and the exterior loses its finish. Given that a piano can mean a great deal to a family, these circumstances will lead the owner to question what to do next.  Their well-loved piano is in need of some TLC to bring it back to its original glory!

When discussuing how to restore a piano, our piano technicians at Artisan Piano Services usually refer to two terms: reconditioning and rebuilding.

Reconditioning Pianos in Seattle

Reconditioning a piano is a much less obtrusive service and is much easier than Rebuilding a piano.  Reconditioning includes cleaning, adjusting, repairing and replacing worn parts.  This service focuses on only the damaged or worn areas.

Rebuilding Pianos in Seattle

Reconditioning usually includes a complete disassemble of the piano — repairing parts that need to be repaired, including the replacement of any parts that show signs of being worn, damaged or deterioration.  Rebuilding focuses on the whole structure, including the soundboard, bridge, pinblock, and strings, and in addition the action, ivory keys, and case restoring. Rebuilding involves a complete facelift for the piano, totally converting it to its original state, or better!

Do you need to recondition or rebuild your piano?

Most pianos can go years without needing to be reconditioned or repaired, although the quality of the tone, touch, and outer appearance of the piano will continue to decline with age. This can be really agitating to someone trying to learn the piano, as the sound may not be at its best.  But ultimately, when regular maintenance that you perform on your piano (such as cleaning, regulating voicing, and tuning) can no longer provide a satisfactory performance, then it might be time for your piano to be reconditioned or rebuilt.

Now, whether your piano is in need of a little reconditioning or a total overhaul or rebuilding depends on its original quality, its surrounding climate, and its usage and performance requirements. One piano may need rebuilding after 20 years of use, but another may last over 50 years. Maybe the most important factor to some will be whether or not the piano has sentimental and personal value. If the instrument has historical value, this can be a key factor in deciding whether a piano should be rebuilt or repaired.  

If you are interested in learning more about Reconditioning Pianos in Seattle or Rebuilding Pianos in Seattle, please contact Artisan Piano Services in our Seattle office (425) 974-4100

A normal piano has 220 strings. Each string has a different pitch and frequency and must be tuned relative to the other strings on your piano. These strings decide the sound of your piano, so caring for them properly is fundamental. After some time these strings can stretch because of strain, which can make the piano go out of tune.

Pianos require less effort to tune, remain in better condition, and keep up their value all the more effortlessly when they are tuned frequently. Regular Seattle piano tuning additionally prevents harm that can happen when somebody plays overstretched strings. In the event that a piano hasn’t been tuned for some time, it will be more costly and take more time to get the piano back into tune which can be frustrating for the piano owner.

To make the strings on your piano keep going as long as possible, you ought to have the piano checked every six months. In the event that the strings disintegrate excessively, or if the strings are off key and not effectively utilized, at that point the piano must be restrung, which can, in some instances, cost as much as purchasing another piano.

The cost of a Seattle piano tune-up can range, yet over the long haul; it takes less money to tune a piano regularly than it does to fix a piano that hasn’t been tuned for quite a while. If you have purchased a new piano in Seattle Washington, you should tune it four times during the first year, as the new strings will stretch increasingly and leave tune quicker. If you tune your piano frequently in the early years that you own it, it will most likely stay in tune for longer periods of time even as it gets older!

Having an in-tune piano makes it fun to play!  Whether you are a learning to play the piano as an adult or a child, it is always a more positive experience when the piano you are playing sounds great!  Take care of your piano and it will remain a blessing in your life for years to come! 

Artisan Piano Services is the number one piano tuner in Seattle Washington.

Have you ever cracked the yellow pages or surfed the web in search of a piano tuner?  Then you’ve probably found yourself wondering, “Which one should I choose?”  What type of criteria do you use when finding a piano tuner?  Do you look for the company with the largest ads, do you search online for the company located closest to you? Or do you simply go for the cheapest option?  Or maybe the most expensive?  Once you find your piano tuner, how often should you tune your piano? It can all be a little confusing!  Let us shed some light on the entire process.

With regards to cost, the average piano tuner charges between $150-$200 for a standard piano tuning.  They may or may not include other services at the time of the appointment.  Artisan Piano Services includes a lot in our standard tuning “Bronze” package. The Bronze Package is a great service for someone who knows their piano needs more than just a tuning but isn’t quite ready for a fuller service. With this service, in addition to the tuning we will also adjust the action to be more responsive and take up the excessive slack in the parts.  It will make a significant improvement in the way the piano sounds and plays – enhancing your enjoyment of the instrument.

This service includes Tuning, Preliminary Cleaning, Minor Repairs, Regulation of the Pedals, Assessment of the Piano’s Condition, and Touch Up Regulation & Voicing all for $250! To learn more about our other packages, Click Here.

In our opinion, the best way to find a qualified tuner is through word of mouth.  You can do this by calling your most reputable piano retailer and asking for a recommendation.  Google, yelp, Facebook and Angie’s list are also great resources to find qualified technicians.  What you want to look for is someone with as much positive feedback and reviews as possible.  You want the best and the best are usually shown in these basic directories. 

Once you find your piano tuner, we recommend tuning no fewer than once a year.  Twice a year is definitely ideal and will make it so that your piano sounds at its best and will help keep potential problems under control with more frequent servicing. The main factors that cause a piano to go out of tune are temperature and humidity fluctuations.  So keeping your home as consistent as possible when it comes to the temperature and humidity is recommended.  Ideally having the temperature fluctuate no more than about 5-7degrees and keeping the humidity between 45-55% humidity is best and will keep your piano in good health.  Other factors that will lead to tuning stability are the quality of the instrument itself, frequency of maintenance and service as well as the skill level of the person performing the service.

Artisan Piano Services has offices in Oregon and Washington.  We provide a unique blend of old world craftsmanship and care with today’s technology and convenience while delivering unparalleled piano service.  We’ve built our reputation on the excellence of our artisans as well as the absolute quality of services we provide.

With our staff of highly trained technicians, we carry on the time-honored tradition of music, art and craftsmanship. Whether you are an accomplished professional, a budding artist, a teacher, or a family of beginners, our qualified piano technicians will create a memorable and worthwhile experience at each piano service.

Finally, what sets us apart from other piano tuners is that we offer a peace of mind guarantee. We guarantee that our expert piano tuners will leave you completely satisfied with your piano tuning service, or we will make it right. Our promise to you that if you ever have any problems after we service your piano, call us and we’ll send one of our technicians out free of charge to address your concerns. You have our word.  

Contact us today to learn more about our services. 

Piano Restoration, Piano Tuning, Piano Repair, Piano Cleaning, Piano Appraisal and Consulting.  Portland Oregon Piano Tuning, Bellevue Washington Piano Tuning

This year, Artisan Piano Services was excited to participate in Pianos in the Park in Seattle Washington! PIANOS IN THE PLAZA is a collaboration between One Reel and our good friends at Classic Pianos.  The purpose of this event is to bring pianists and outdoor enthusiasts together for a fun occasion which takes place in South Lake Union August 3^rd-30^th.   This annual event gives the general public the opportunity to view and play beautiful pianos which are painted by local artists.  Artisan Piano Services’ own technician Josh was invited to participate in order to tune some of these one of a kind pianos.  In the past, these pianos are displayed in different locations around the Seattle area including Queen Anne’s Kerry Park, 12th Avenue Arts and Seattle Center.

Our friends at Classic Pianos donated the three pianos on display for the first ever PIANOS IN THE PLAZA. The first is a piano designed by Rachel Sprague that was first introduced at Pianos in the Parks in 2017. The other two were designed exclusively for PIANOS IN THE PLAZA by Tim Detweiler and Joseph Steininger.

Artisan Piano Services is always interested in giving back to the local communities where we live, work and play.  Please contact us if you have an event that might be a good match for us!

Josh Mayfield, our lead technician in our Bellevue, Washington location, had a unique opportunity this week. While doing a cruise ship tuning on board the Zaandam, one of Holland America’s luxury cruise ships, a King 5 Seattle news crew came aboard to do a news story on what the cruise industry does for the local economy and small business like ours at Artisan Piano Services.

Josh explained, “As chance would have it they caught me tuning one of several pianos on board the ship and asked if they could get a few shots of me tuning and ask some questions. I was bit caught off guard but had a great time with them.”

[See Josh starting at about 2:15 minutes]

Josh has been providing tuning and piano repair services on cruise ships almost every week for a number of years in Seattle. With all of the constant movement, changing atmospheric conditions and the amount of use the pianos get, Josh needs to regularly be using his years of expertise to keep them playing and sounding their best.

Whether it’s at home, in a church, a school or on a massive cruise ship, Artisan Piano Service has you covered in both the great Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon areas. Let us know if you need your piano tuned or other services! We even do complete piano restoration.

Angie’s List Press Release

Artisan Piano Services Earns Esteemed 2017 Angie’s List Super Service Award

Portland, Oregon and Bellevue, Washington, January 1, 2018 – Artisan Piano Services is proud to announce that it has earned the home service industry’s coveted Angie’s List Super Service Award (SSA). This award honors service professionals who have maintained exceptional service ratings and reviews on Angie’s List in 2017.

“The service providers that receive our Angie’s List Super Service Award demonstrate the level of excellence that members have come to expect,” said Angie’s List Founder Angie Hicks. “These pros are top-notch and absolutely deserve recognition for the trustworthy and exemplary customer service they exhibited in the past year and overall.”

The Artisan team of highly trained technicians and customer relations staff have been providing outstanding piano tuning, repair, cleaning & appraisals, and even complete piano refinishing and restoration throughout the greater Portland and Seattle areas.

Award reflects company’s consistently high level of customer service

Angie’s List Super Service Award 2017 winners have met strict eligibility requirements, which include maintaining an “A” rating in overall grade, recent grade and review period grade. The SSA winners must be in good standing with Angie’s List, pass a background check, record a current trade license attestation and abide by Angie’s List operational guidelines.

“We are just thrilled to be recognized as a Super Service Award winner every year we have been listed with Angie’s list,” said David Hayes, the owner of Artisan Piano Services. “Our teams in both Portland and Bellevue have done a marvelous job of focusing on the expectations of our customers and tailoring our technical expertise to the needs they have. We are grateful for all the support and excellent feedback we receive from our customers.”

Artisan Piano Services has been listed on Angie’s List since 2011 in Portland, Oregon and 2014 in Bellevue, Washington. This is the 7^th consecutive that year Artisan Piano Services has received this honor.

Service company ratings are updated continually on Angie’s List as new, verified consumer reviews are submitted. Companies are graded on an A through F scale in multiple fields ranging from price to professionalism to punctuality.

For over two decades Angie’s List has been a trusted name for connecting consumers to top-rated service professionals. Angie’s List provides unique tools and support designed to improve the local service experience for both consumers and service professionals.

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 For over two decades, Angie’s List has provided trusted reviews and information to help millions of consumers make smart hiring decisions. Angie’s List offers more than 10 million verified reviews in over 700 service categories, providing its members a credible resource for researching and comparing local service providers. Angie’s List is based in Indianapolis, Indiana and is an operating business of ANGI Homeservices (NASDAQ:ANGI).

According to the Piano Technicians Guild, piano tuning varies according to manufacturers:

“While pianos generally fall into vertical and grand model categories, each manufacturer selects its own materials and utilizes its own unique scale and furniture designs. Every piano requires a different level of maintenance, depending upon the quality of materials used and the design and level of craftsmanship. Manufacturers can provide general advice on tuning frequency but your technician can give specific recommendations based upon your usage and locale.” 

Here’s what some of the major piano manufacturers recommend:

Baldwin Piano Company (also Chickering, Wurlitzer)

Professional service is the key. In the first year, the National Piano Manufacturers Association recommends that you have your piano tuned four times. This is a period of environmental adjustment for a new instrument, and proper attention is important.

Chickering Grand Piano Restoration 2016

After the first year, the piano should be tuned at least twice each year, depending upon the frequency of use and atmospheric conditions. Contact Artisan Piano Services to schedule an appointment with our professional technicians to perform this service.

Read more »

Artisan Piano Services has recently have been given the rare opportunity to do some restoration work on a truly classic instrument: an 1840’s Boisselot et fils piano. This period instrument is very rare, and it is an uncommon thing to be able to see one of these pianos, let alone work on one. Restoring this piano is a great thrill!

We will be doing a partial rebuild of the ACTION, including: recondition the action parts to proper working condition, possible re-pinning, replacing key-bushings and key-bed felt as necessary, surfacing the hammers, lubricating the knuckles, and doing a touch-up regulation and voicing. Included is new damper felt and damper regulation.

Artisan has also been commissioned to provide a full restoration of the BELLY: replacing the strings, tuning pins, and pinblock. We will repair and recondition soundboard and bridges, as well as refinish plate and replace the plate felt and recondition plate hardware.

Importantly, our technicians will provide numerous in-shop tunings before the project is completed, and another one when the piano is delivered to our customer.

Finally, to preserve the original beauty and integrity of the cabinet finish, we will simply touch up the case and re-install some loose decorative brass trim pieces.

HISTORY of the Boisselot & Fils

“Boisselot & Fils [i.e. & sons] was a French piano manufacturing company established in 1831 in Marseille, France, by Jean-Louis Boisselot and sons, Louis-Constantin and Xavier Boisselot. The rapid increase in the production capacity of the factory with 70 workers to 300 pianos per year from 1834 shows that father and son had prepared their plan carefully. The constant expansion led in 1848 with 150 workers for the production of about 400 pianos a year. Highlighting this success, he was awarded with a gold medal at the French Industrial Exposition of 1844 (the 10th Paris Industrial Exhibition). Among other innovations Boisselot presented for the first time at the exhibition a mechanism by which individual notes and sounds were identified as Tonhalte or sostenuto pedal today.” (Wikipedia for Boisselot & Fils)

According to Pianos Romantiques, “Marseille turned out to be a good choice for setting up a piano factory: salaries were lower than those of the Parisian rivals, cheap exotic wood was [close] to hand thanks to the importance of the town as a port, and there was easy access to important export markets: Italy, Spain, and the colonies via the Mediterranean.”

The famous pianist and composer Franz Liszt was a patron to the Boisselots. He owned and performed on a Boisselot Fils. According to Alan Walker, Liszt traveled in October-November 1844 in Spain with his lifelong friend, Louis Boisselot, for a series of concerts. “Liszt played on a Boisselot piano, a powerful instrument especially brought in from Marseille by Louis Boisselot, which accompanied him on his journey across the Iberian Peninsula.” (Franz Liszt: The virtuoso years, 1811-1847)

Finally – Enjoy a Chopin Nocturne performed on a 1842 Boisselot!

We just finished restoring a 100+ year old Hamburg Steinway & Sons model “O” piano. Fred Riley, of Classic Pianos, recorded this video of Ruby Hall playing Beethoven’s Sonata op.2 no.3 in our shop.

Artisan restored this piano for our partners,Classic Pianos, to showcase in their “Classic Collection.” The pianos that we restore for this collection are second to none in terms of quality of workmanship, materials and tone.

With a full piano restoration, we not only refinish the cabinet

…but also completely restore the belly, including new strings

…the keys and action are reconditioned

…and we even polish up and regulate the pedals!

Although we do all of our piano restoration work out of our Portland, Oregon location, we have had several come to us from the Seattle, Washington area, and from other parts of the United States and Britain.

We do shop tours daily, and would be delighted to show you around!