Home Piano Annual Condition & Tuning Readiness

ContextRun your hand along all flat surfaces and view them at a low angle in natural light. Hairline cracks in the finish are cosmetic but can indicate a failing glue joint below — press gently near a crack to feel for give. Bubbling or lifting veneer means moisture has gotten under the finish; left unaddressed, it peels in progressively larger sheets. Minor chips on polyester or lacquer finishes can be filled with touch-up kits ($15–$30) from piano supply houses such as Pianotek or Clark's Piano Supplies. Significant veneer repair or refinishing runs $300–$2,000 or more depending on the instrument's size and original finish type.

ContextLift and lower the key cover slowly. It should glide without binding, wobbling, or falling unexpectedly. Older upright fallboards use a simple hinge; better instruments use a slow-close hydraulic mechanism. If yours used to self-close gently but now drops, the hydraulic mechanism has failed — replacement runs $50–$150 in parts. On grand pianos, the keyslip screws occasionally work loose, causing the cover to catch when opening; check these while the instrument is open. Binding or stiff operation often means wood has swollen from elevated humidity — another reason to correlate this observation with your hygrometer reading.

ContextTake the music desk fully off its resting point and examine the brackets or ledge. On uprights these are typically wooden ledges with felt; on grands they are folding brass brackets. Loose brackets are a safety hazard — a heavy score can topple into the open string plane during playing. On uprights, also inspect any decorative fretwork panels above the keyboard: cracks or missing pieces are often irreplaceable on older instruments and accelerate further breakage if left unaddressed.

ContextA rocking bench often just needs a quarter-turn tightening of its corner bolts. Check that felt pads on the bottom of each leg are intact — worn pads allow the bench to slide unexpectedly, which is a safety issue during playing. If the bench is height-adjustable, set it to your playing height and confirm the knobs lock firmly without creeping down. Proper seated position places the forearms roughly parallel to the floor with elbows at key level — a bench that's too low or too high is a common, overlooked cause of wrist fatigue, especially for younger players.

ContextDo this slowly, one key at a time, without the sustain pedal engaged. A key that goes down and does not spring back usually has a stuck action component — swollen wood, a broken return spring, or a center pin that needs lubrication or replacement. A key that produces no sound means the hammer is not reaching the strings, which could indicate a broken shank, broken flange, or a snapped string. Record specific key names (for example: C4, D-sharp 3) so your technician can prepare before arriving — this triage prevents spending their $90–$130/hour bench time on diagnosis you can do in advance.

ContextPress a white key firmly — not harshly — to the bottom and feel the depth of travel. On a well-regulated piano this is approximately 3/8 inch (9–10mm). Repeat across a dozen keys spanning bass, middle, and treble ranges. If some feel noticeably shallow (almost no travel) while others feel like they're falling away, the regulation has drifted — this is normal over many years and is corrected during a regulation service, which costs $200–$500 or more for a full treatment. Uneven key dip creates uneven touch weight and makes the instrument physically tiring to play, particularly at dynamic extremes.

ContextOlder pianos manufactured before the 1950s commonly have genuine ivory keytops, which yellow naturally but can be lightened with controlled UV exposure. Newer instruments use plastic tops that chip differently. A chipped keytop with a sharp edge can cut a finger mid-performance — smooth it carefully with a fine nail file as a temporary measure, or have a technician replace the top. Replacement plastic keytop sets are sold by the octave from suppliers like Schaff Piano Supply. For ivory, removal and replacement is best left to a technician to avoid breaking the underlying key.

ContextGrip the front of each key and gently press it side-to-side. A small amount of play is normal, but if a key visibly sways or catches on its neighbor, the key bushings — the felt washers that keep keys aligned on their guide rails — have worn out. This is often overlooked until keys begin contacting adjacent hammers, causing double-striking or blocking. Rebushing a full set of keys costs $150–$400 in parts and labor, and is a relatively common service on instruments 30 years or older.

ContextPress the pedal slowly to the floor while playing several notes — sustain should be complete and uniform across the keyboard. Release the pedal sharply; sound should stop cleanly as dampers fall back onto the strings. A slow or incomplete release means damper felts are worn or damper springs have weakened. Squeaking during pedal operation usually means pivot points in the lyre need a drop of Teflon-based pedal lubricant — not oil, which attracts dust and eventually gums. A pedal that doesn't stay down without foot pressure suggests the lyre adjustment rod has backed out; check the adjustment nut below the keybed.

ContextOn a well-functioning upright, the left pedal moves the action forward so hammers contact strings from a shorter distance, producing a softer, more intimate tone. On a grand, it shifts the keyboard so hammers contact fewer strings at a slightly different angle. The change should be both audible and perceptible at the key surface. If pressing the left pedal feels identical to not pressing it, the mechanism has seized or drifted out of adjustment. Note that on some lower-cost uprights, the 'soft' pedal only inserts a felt strip between hammers and strings — this creates a muffled practice sound and is a completely different mechanism with different maintenance needs.

ContextThe middle pedal function varies significantly by instrument. On most American upright pianos it is a bass sustain (holds only bass-register dampers) or a practice pedal (drops a felt curtain behind the hammers for very quiet playing). On grand pianos it is the sostenuto, which holds only dampers that were already raised at the moment of pedal engagement. Look up your piano's make and model to confirm which function yours has — many owners play an instrument for years without knowing. If yours is a practice pedal with a locking position, confirm the lock engages and releases properly; a stuck lock often results from wood swelling.

ContextThe lyre is the frame (wooden or metal) connecting the pedals to the underside of the piano. It should feel completely rigid when gripped and pressed from multiple directions. A loose lyre rattles audibly during playing, especially in bass passages — this sound is notoriously difficult to diagnose without knowing to look here. Tighten any loose screws; if threads are stripped, a technician can install threaded inserts or re-drill after applying wood filler. While you're here, check each pedal rod where it passes through the keybed opening — this contact point is responsible for most pedal squeaks and responds immediately to a small amount of Teflon lubricant.

ContextOn an upright, remove the top panel and the lower front panel beneath the keys. On a grand, open the lid fully and prop it. Sight along the string plane at a low angle — rust appears as reddish-orange discoloration and causes strings to lose brilliance and become brittle. Light surface rust is cosmetic; deep pitting means a string is structurally weakened and may snap during the tension increase of a pitch raise. A broken string is visible as a slack, coiled end among the taut strings. Single string replacement runs $8–$35 installed, depending on location; bass strings are custom-wound and cost more. Also look for coins, pencils, or other objects that have fallen in — remove them before the tuner arrives, as foreign objects cause buzzes that waste bench time.

ContextThe hammers are the felt-covered wooden heads that strike the strings. Look at the contact zone on each hammer face — after years of use, grooves form where strings repeatedly compress the felt. Shallow grooves are normal; deep depressions of 3–5mm cause a harsh, bright tone because the felt has hardened in that zone. Voicing (needling the felt to restore softness) costs $75–$200 for a full set and dramatically transforms the instrument's character. If felt is separating from the hammer core or chunks are missing, those hammers require replacement at $8–$20 each installed. On pianos that receive light use, also look for irregular small holes in the felt — these are a signature of moth infestation.

ContextDampers are the felt pads that rest on strings and stop their vibration when keys are released. On uprights they are visible in the upper portion of the string plane. Compressed, flattened damper felt no longer seals cleanly against the strings — notes blur together after release in a way that resembles a partially depressed sustain pedal, but the pedal is not at fault. Moth holes in damper felt drop fragments into the strings, causing persistent buzzing on specific notes. Replacement damper felts cost $2–$8 per damper plus labor. While inspecting, lightly press several dampers with a fingertip — they should spring back immediately. Sluggish return indicates a weak damper spring or a binding guide rod.

ContextThe tuning pins are the steel pegs, roughly the diameter of a pencil, into which the strings are wound at the top of the string plane. Try to rotate a sampling of pins — bass, mid-range, and treble — using only finger pressure (no tools). Pins that turn with light finger pressure are considered 'loose' and cannot maintain stable pitch after a tuning. When most pins are loose, the instrument cannot be reliably tuned regardless of the technician's skill. Also look at the pinblock — the laminated wooden block the pins are driven into — for visible cracks running parallel to the pins. A cracked or failed pinblock is the most consequential structural repair a piano can require, with replacement cost from a rebuilder running $1,500–$4,000 or more.

ContextA piano that has not been tuned in over a year will almost certainly require a pitch raise before fine tuning — this is two full passes across the instrument and is billed at 1.5x to 2x a standard tuning fee. If you have no records, play middle A and compare it against a free tuner app on your phone: if the note reads more than 30–40 cents flat, a pitch raise is needed before any fine work is possible. Maintaining a consistent log here — date, technician, cost, condition notes — becomes invaluable over years of ownership and is essential documentation if you ever sell the instrument.

ContextA written list handed over before the technician opens the piano is more useful than verbal descriptions offered mid-session when they are focused on listening. Include: the specific names of keys that stick or don't respond, any buzzing or rattling and exactly what triggers it, whether a pedal felt loose or squeaky, and whether the piano was recently moved. Technicians working from a focused list spend less time hunting and more time correcting — which directly reduces bench time and your invoice.

ContextThe serial number is typically stamped into the cast iron plate (the large gold or silver harp) inside the piano, or stenciled on the back of the cabinet near the top. Record it here. Use Pierce Piano Atlas or the manufacturer's official website to look up the manufacturing year from the serial number — this single piece of information frames every repair decision you will make. A well-regarded maker's instrument from 40 years ago may absolutely justify a $600 action regulation; a budget brand of the same age likely cannot command resale value that warrants that investment. Age also tells your technician whether to expect original action parts or evidence of prior rebuilding.