NIKOLAI VELIKOV
PIANO TUNING
AND REGULATION-UAE
SERVICES
TUNING
Specialized in offering professional piano tuning service to families, musicians, recording studios, schools throughout Dubai and all Emirates.
Piano strings are under a lot of tension which is supported by the cast iron plate, pinblock, tuning pins, bridges, and soundboard. There are many factors that cause a piano to go out of tune such as humidity, temperature changes, natural stretching of the strings, slipping tuning pins, and usage.
The most favourable environment for your piano is a relative humidity ranging between 45% and 70% and a constant temperature of approximately 22˚C.
Most pianists and piano teachers would like their piano tuned in the most common equal temperament relative to a proper pitch of 440Hz ( A440 ). But my personal preference is to tune non-equal temperament (Well-Tempered), to give subtle characherisic to each tone.
REGULATION
Action regulation is the systematic adjustments and re-calibration of the 8000 parts of a piano action to yield proper movement. Over time playing and temperature change cause parts to misalign.
Action regulation should be performed once every 5-15 years, depending upon usage. Even if ambient conditions are satisfactory, regulations should be carried out at regular intervals, because felt, cloth, and buckskin cushions become packed down, and hammers become worn. Wooden parts warp a little, altering the relationship of one part to another. These factors all diminish the piano's ability to play softly, loudly, and with good repetition.
VOICING
Tone regulating is the fine art of adjusting the tone quality of a piano so that each note has the desired amount of brilliance or mellowness.
If a mellow sound is desired from a brighter piano, careful needling of the felt cushion behind the striking point of the hammer is done. This is due to the fact that a soft contact point yields a warm/mellow sound. In the event a pianist prefers a brighter sound from a mellow sounding piano; compacting the hammer felt through a chemical and or physical process is performed, as a hard contact, patch yields a brilliant/crisp sound.
In addition, it must be known that all pianos get brighter sounding over time as a result of usage. As the hammer strike the string, the felt compacts and hardens. So, every so often a piano should be voiced to prevent an overly bright, ear-piercing tone.
PIANO POLISHING
Having scratches on your instrument, that bothered you every time you look at it?
Piano’s fallboard, cheek blocks and lids are more exposed to scratches and can appear dull after many years of use. Polishing these areas only, or the whole piano will restore its factory shine.
Full or partial piano polishing is necessary especially if you are planning to sell your piano.