FAQ'S

The key components and functionality of a piano include:

Action Mechanism: 

Pressing a key triggers a complex lever system that launches a felt hammer toward the strings. The harder the key is pressed, the faster the hammer strikes, resulting in a louder sound.

Strings and Pitch:

A piano has roughly 230 strings, with most tones using multiple strings to produce a richer sound. The length, mass, and tension of these strings dictate the pitch.

Damper System: 

Felt dampers sit on the strings to prevent them from vibrating, lifting only when a key is pressed to allow a note to ring.

Soundboard: 

Strings are stretched over a bridge that transfers their vibrations to a large wooden soundboard, which amplifies the vibration into audible sound.

Pianos in the average residential home with normal family or personal entertainment use, should be tuned every 12-18 months by an experienced piano tuner, however various climatic factors can also contribute to your pianos tuning stability.

Your piano is constructed from lots of different materials that all interact with each other. Primarily the wooden and metal elements expand and contract through the seasons as the piano is exposed to temperature fluctuations. The frame and string elements of the piano are under enormous pressure and slight changes over time alter the evenness of the tension on the strings and your piano slowly, or in some cases rapidly, go out of tune.

The Format of the "modern piano" has really not changed a great deal since the 1920's. Some manufacturers have incorporated different processes and materials into manufacturing of the piano to obtain higher levels of stability in the materials. 

All modern upright pianos use what's known as an "under damper" piano action and an iron frame. 

All modern grand pianos use the "double blow" quick-repeating action.

In my opinion, the best starting point for a piano is making sure it has a full iron frame and a modern piano action.

There are many older styles of piano action, including the "over damper" piano mechanism. Pre-1920s pianos used what is known as a 3/4 iron frame.  These pianos can still be nice instruments but do require a little more maintenance and specialist knowledge to achieve a good result from the maintenance.

Wooden frame pianos however are no longer considered desirable, as parts have become obsolete. Although they can be aesthetically pleasing, they are generally unstable in their tuning systems due to not having a rigid iron frame.

Yes! Your piano definitely still needs to be tuned even if it is seldom played. As with just about every mechanical object, not being used can be the pianos worst enemy. As mentioned above, climatic factors do play a major role in the tuning stability of your piano. 

The term pitch refers to the level of the sounds produced by the piano and the tighter the strings, the higher the pitch. 

All notes on a piano should be at theoretical even spacing forming the musical scale, C - C#, C# - D, D - E flat, etc. this scale is repeated throughout the keyboard on the piano. 

A440, often reffered to as concert pitch, dictates that the A note above the middle C should vibrate at 440hz, and all notes should be adjusted accordingly. This pitch was created to cover the vast majority of instruments in an orchestra, so that the notes would be in tune from the bass, i.e.: from bassoons and tubas, to the high notes i.e.: from flutes or clarinets.

This can be a very tricky question! If a piano is of good structure and of sentimental value, then the answer is yes. A piano can be re-strung, keys can be restored or replaced, mechanisms can be refurbished and cabinets can be repaired and polished.

The majority of pianos that have been kept in reasonable storage i.e.: have not been left outside for any period of time or have not had considerable water damage, are restorable in theory. Although cost can be a decider in the willingness to undertake such a restoration.

It is unusual, but not uncommon, for the iron frame to be cracked or the tuning pin block to be split. These would be circumstances that would deem a piano most likley to not be restorable, as they would be too labour intensive or would cause considerable issues relating to the outcome of the restoration of the piano.

In my opinion a small modern upright piano manufactured after 1950 would be the ideal piano for someone wishing to begin their piano journey. 

Most of these pianos have, at minimum, a reasonable manufacturing quality (usually with more modern and stable components vs. pre-1950), very consistant playing action and are quite robust in their playability.

These pianos are comparatively inexpensive from a dealer and can also be bought at reasonable price as a private sale. Most pianos I come across from the 1950's-1980's are only in need of a few hours work to bring them to a satisfactory level of suitability for a beginner.

Older pianos can still be an acceptable choice, but often they can be slightly inconsistent or have had longer periods without maintenance, leading to high maintenance requirements and additional repair costs to achieve a beginner friendly piano.