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Writer's pictureSteve Stokes

5 Reasons To Refinish Your Piano



1. Keep Your Piano In The Family Many of the pianos that we refinish here at AAA Piano are pianos that are family heirlooms...pieces of furniture that have been so alive in the past, but have become less attractive looking and do not sound as good as you remember.  The piano that was once alive with action and wonderful sound, with the entire family gathered around, is now just collecting dust.  But, even through all that, there is still life in that old family piano.  Life that is waiting to be restored to once again fill the home with beautiful music. There comes a time when a piano owner starts thinking about what to do with the family piano.  They just can't bring themselves to give the piano away because the memories are too great and the bond is too strong.  And, there is no way they would even think about throwing the piano away and sending it to the landfill.  This is the time to make that decision to keep the family piano, in the family. Refinishing your piano is an amazing way to breathe new life into the piano and into your family's memories.  A refinished piano and completely restored piano, naturally draws people into it, as it calls to be played again.  

2. Not Ready For Piano Heaven As of 2017, the life expectancy of humans is between 85-90 years of age.  As we age and get older, our bodies begin to break down, become tired and eventually fail.  Our pianos are very similar, and just like with our bodies, we can do many things to prolong the life of our pianos, including routine maintenance, or in the case of a piano, a complete rebuild and refinish.  

Here is some information taken directly from the Piano Technician's Guild website about what to expect as your piano ages, which, in a funny way, sounds very similar to our bodies: "In the short term, leather and felt compact, affecting the adjustment (regulation) of the parts.  The action becomes less responsive, and the piano's tone loses dynamic range.  Squeaks and rattles may develop.  Routine maintenance such as hammer filing, regulation, voicing, and tuning will correct these problems and maintain the piano in near-new condition.  After extended or very heavy use, action parts become severely worn. Leather and felt wear thin. Keys become wobbly, hammer felt gets too thin to produce good tone, and the action becomes noisy. Regulation adjustments reach their limit. In addition, piano strings may begin breaking and the copper windings of bass strings lose resonance. After decades of exposure to seasonal changes, the wood of the soundboard, bridges, and pinblock is weakened. This causes loose tuning pins, poor tuning stability, and further loss of tone. By this time the piano's finish will often be scratched or faded." - ptg.org Excerpt quoted from: http://www.ptg.org/Scripts/4Disapi.dll/4DCGI/cms/review.html?Action=CMS_Document&DocID=63&MenuKey=Menu7 Although the above describes what happens to piano as it ages, all these adverse affects of time can be fixed.  Sometimes the choice is not easy to send a piano to piano heaven, but be assured, here at AAA Piano, no piano is beyond repair.

​3. Memories Beyond Repair Grandma used to say, "practice makes perfect!"  Especially when playing the piano... practice is key!  Practice, practice and more practice.   Many of us have spent numerous hours behind the keys of the family piano and have gathered around the piano playing duets with other family members.  Those markers in time bring great memories that can be shared with family for many years to come...as long as the piano is playable.   Most pianos that have been well loved for many years, need repairs.  Repairs can be costly, especially when multiple small repairs are done over many different visits from a piano technician.  The key is to completely restore and refinish the piano and then have the piano maintained yearly. If you were thinking about having your piano refinished, this would be the perfect time to have all the necessary repairs completed.  The time to do all those repairs would be when the piano is in our shop. During the refinishing process, you have the option to have AAA Piano completely or partially rebuild the "guts" of your piano.  Before we start the rebuilding process, we provide a complete estimate based on our thorough piano inspection.  Our technicians completely disassemble your piano and go through a very detailed inspection process where we look at any possible damage in the piano action, the piano strings, the bridges, the pin-block, the piano keys, the piano sound board, the piano plate, and throughout every area of the piano, to get a good understanding of any possible damage, wear, and/or deterioration in the piano that would need attention. Once we contact you and let you know what we have found, we will let you know all the details, including the price to either partially or completely repair the piano.  During the refinishing process, we will complete the repairs and reassemble the piano.  At that point, your piano will be in great playable shape, which will match the look of your refinished piano.  A great looking piano and a good functionally sound piano is our ultimate goal and we are confident you will be amazed at the transformation. No piano is beyond repair and holding onto your memories, and creating new ones, will be worth every bit of work involved.

4. Less Expensive Than You Think The cost to refinish your piano will vary with many different factors, but overall, the cost to refinish and completely restore your piano will often be much less than purchasing a new piano of the same quality.  The different factors that determine the cost would be based on your choice to partially restore or fully restore and refinish your piano, which may be a combination of work done to both the interior and the exterior of the piano.  Depending on the quality of the finish, and the amount of work needed on the piano action, the price will vary, however, it may be less expensive than you think to refinish or restore your piano.  Give us a call to discuss your particular piano's needs and we would be happy to guide you through the process.  916-397-7426

We do all our work in house and we have plenty of years of experience to provide you with the highest quality piano restoration. -AAA Piano

5. Give Your Piano A New Look Is your piano's color or style outdated?  Very similar to other pieces of outdated furniture and/or cabinets that are in your home that do not match your current decor, your piano may also have that same look, however, your piano no longer needs to be an eye-sore.  We do all kinds of finishes, including flat, satin, semi-gloss and high gloss finishes.  We also paint pianos in any style, including shabby chic, so make sure to ask us about our piano painting options.


For more info, give us a call directly:

916-397-7426

Or, feel free to click on our Contact Page to send us a message.

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