“We are purveyors of the finest pianos and old fashioned techniques”
Upright Piano Restoration Services
Our estimates are complimentary
Our stunning high luster finish on a 1895 walnut Story & Clarke upright
Our stunning high luster finish on a 1895 walnut Story & Clarke upright
Please take the time to read through our upright piano restoration & refurbishment pageand experience our craftsmanship. You will understand why we are at the top of our craft and unrivaled in our talent and skill.
We do it right!
Is your upright piano old and tired? Our upright piano refinishing and full restoration services will breathe new life into your upright piano. Whether it is an antique upright piano or a vintage Yamaha or Kawai we can make your piano like new again.
Vintage and Antique Upright pianos are typically underrated as a performance instrument but the fact is they are better than almost anything you can buy today. The build quality of upright pianos from the late 1800’s to the mid 1960’s is top notch. In most cases the entire case is made of quarter sawn American oak, the pinblock is made of 5-7 ply hard rock maple, the plate is casted with a bell metal mixture(steel, copper & brass), the action assembly(internal moving parts) can be rebuilt to feel better than new, high quality veneer(American oak, American walnut, Honduran mahogany, Brazilian rosewood and many other rare/exotic veneers are used. Needless to say you would have to spend well over $25,000 to get even close to the vintage quality. The best part is the piano can look, sound and play like new and last for centuries especially because the sound board is upright, meaning that gravity is not pulling down on quit like a grand piano and in our experience almost all vintage upright pianos should spectacular.
Piano Restoration Pricing Guide
Antique Upright, Vintage Upright & Modern Upright Piano Restoration Pricing Guide
Click on the link below ⇓ to find out more about our Piano Restoration Pricing.
Upright Piano Refinishing
Upright Piano Refinishing & Cabinet Grand Piano Refinishing
We offer the highest quality piano finishes, from high gloss
polyster(new style) to hand rubbed satin. Our materials are made from the purest products and they are formulated to last.Gray Walnut custom stain finish done in satin Varnish. 1970’s Kawai
- High Gloss (Machine Polished) Lacquer
- High Gloss (Machine Polished) Polyester
- High Gloss (Machine Polished) Varnish
- Hand Rubbed Satin (classic American & European Style Finish)
- Modern Satin (not rubbed/scratched to obtain the satin look)
- Ebony (gloss or rubbed satin)
- White (gloss or satin)
- Matte any color
- Custom Colors (red, blue etc.)
- Themes (Coca-Cola, Budweiser, Disney etc.. )
- Custom Veneer and Inlay
Grand Piano Restoration and Piano Refurbishment Article
Thе first thing we dо iѕ disassemble. We take detailed рiсturеѕ аnd саtаlоg аnd archive everything: where everything gоеѕ, whаt size it iѕ, ѕtringing ѕсаlеѕ аnd so оn. That wау we can reassemble it аѕ сlоѕеlу tо that аѕ possible. Fоr еxаmрlе, the wооd, the rim, thе harp, the hingеѕ, thе реdаlѕ, the kеуѕ—bаѕiсаllу аnуthing that саn bе rеѕtоrеd, we restore. Wе replace thingѕ with limitеd lifespans—felt, rubbеr, lеаthеr, strings. Anуthing оrgаniс has a 40 оr 50-уеаr lifespan bеfоrе it juѕt dеtеriоrаtеѕ. Wе do replacements with a hiѕtоriсаl реrѕресtivе in mind, so it iѕ as сlоѕе tо its original соnditiоn аѕ possible.
The fоllоwing аrе highlightѕ оf rеѕtоrаtiоn wе саrrу out; Thе Structural Restoration: Thiѕ would be rеquirеd if уоur рiаnо does nоt stay in tunе, оr if thеrе iѕ a serious fаult with thе ѕоundbоаrd, аnd bridgеѕ, possibly саuѕing уоur piano to vibrаtе. Aсtiоn аnd Kеу Restoration: Thеrе аrе twо lеvеlѕ оf wоrk invоlvеd in the action rераir оr restoration оf a рiаnо. Sоmеtimеѕ it iѕ only necessary to саrrу out wоrk that will tаkе uр tо оnе day, аnd can uѕuаllу bе achieved in уоur home. In other circumstances thе mесhаniѕm will hаvе tо be fullу rеѕtоrеd in our workshops. Cаѕеwоrk Restoration: Agаin, thеrе аrе vаriоuѕ levels оf rеѕtоrаtiоn frоm the rеvivаl of the саѕе bу removing many уеаrѕ of grimе аnd dirt tо thе соmрlеtе stripping оff оf the оld polish, filling thе flаwѕ, thеn ѕtаining аnd роliѕhing thе саѕе. An alternative finiѕh tоdау iѕ tо spray thе piano with a high glоѕѕ роlуеѕtеr finish.
Our аim iѕ tо rebuilding your piano, rеfurbiѕhing it аnd giving it the perfect look it rеquirеѕ. Thе wоrk саrriеd оut dереndѕ оn whаt уоur piano rеquirеѕ, and, nееdlеѕѕ to ѕау, every piano iѕ different. Wе are able tо inѕресt аnd аdviѕе you оn what уоu аnd your piano requires. Obviously it will аlѕо depend оn whаt уоu rеquirе frоm your рiаnо. A bеginnеr‘ѕ rеquirеmеntѕ will be vеrу different tо the vеrу gооd аmаtеur pianist, whiсh, аgаin, will bе very different to a рrоfеѕѕiоnаl muѕiсiаn. At the end оf the рrосеѕѕ, bе it rерlасing, оr restoring, we еnѕurе that уоu аrе ѕаtiѕfiеd and that you hаvе mаdе thе соrrесt dесiѕiоn that fulfilѕ уоur реrѕоnаl rеquirеmеntѕ. Yоu mау hаvе wаntеd a grаnd рiаnо suitable fоr уоu аnd your fаmilу to рlау for mаnу уеаrѕ ahead. It iѕ always good tо hаvе a bеаutiful рiесе оf furniturе in your hоmе, еѕресiаllу with thе аddеd bоnuѕ that it makes wоndеrful muѕiс.
Restringing: Full or partial restringing services are available
ReStringing: The art of replacing the strings, tuning pins & stringing felts
Piano Artisans offers the most in depth service and attention to detail.
- We use Highest quality American made strings(Mapes Piano Strings Company)
- Custom made Bass Strings(hand made in the USA)
- Diamond Nickel plated tuning pins(made in Germany and are the highest quality available)
- Replacement of original A-graffe’s
- Damper Felt Replacement using Genuine Steinway Felts or Renner Felts
- Damper Guide Rail Felt
- Stringing Cloth (underfelts and stringing braids custom cut to match original factory specs)
- Pin Block replacement using Pianotek Multi-ply or Buldoc 5 ply maple pin block material
- Our Pinblock replacement is hand made and perfectly matched to the original style
Upright Piano Soundboard Replacement
- All Soundboard Services are done in our Artisan Shop by our own skilled technicians.
- Replacement of the original soundboard using Buldoc(best in the industry) Canadian spruce
- Replacement of the original bridge and caps using Buldoc Canadian hard rock maple
- Replacement of all of the bridge pins(nickel or copper)
- Replacement of soundboard moldings and dowels(using genuine Canadian Maple)
- Hand fitted to the case and glued using the highest quality modern wood glue.
- Hand Carved Bridges
- All work is done in our artisan shop with our skilled craftsman
Ivory Key Top Restoration & Ebony Key Top Repair
- Repair broken, chipped or cracked ivory piano key tops
- Replace missing, chipped, cracked or broken Ivory key tops using reclaimed vintage Ivory salvaged from over 100 years of business.
- Remove yellowing from original Ivory. We use a gentle whitening process which takes over 24 hours, the result is stunning and permanent.
- Deep Cleaning, Buffing, and polishing of original Ivory key tops
- Restoration of Ebony key tops include removing original lacquer, then sealing and buffing with a specially formulated black rouge to seal the ebony.
- Replacement of Ebony key tops using the highest grade genuine Ebony or plastic(upon request
Polishing/Plating of Brass/Nickel Hardware
Chrome Nickel Plating
- We hand polish and refurbish all brass hardware in house
- Removal of oxidation / tarnishing from original hardware
- Buffing and Polishing of brass hardware once the oxidation is removed, buffed to a mirror or satin finish
- Nickel & Chrome Plating of original hardware using the highest grade triple plating technique(copper, nickel and then chrome)
- All metal hardware will be coated with an anti-rust coating once the polishing is complete, the coating last for 20-50 years
Key Top Replacement (if you have plastic, yellowed or too many missing ivories)
- Key top replacement using either simulated ivory(USA), white acrylics(USA) or high density acrylic (German)
- All key top services are done in house using the proper methods in order to obtain the original measurements of overall key height and maintain genuine specs.
- Replacement of Ebony key tops, if you have a mismatched set or missing ebonies we can replace/restore the keyboard to match the original styling. Available in either Ebony or Plastic
- Polishing of existing plastic key tops. Do you have severely scratched or damaged plastic key tops? In most cases we can use a special rouge and buff/polish the original key tops to a like new finish.
- *** Special note, you can tell the difference between plastic and ivory by looking for grain on the key top, if you have grain and the key top appears to be two pieces then you you have Ivory, if not, most likely plastic.
Upright Piano Action Restoration
- All of our Action Regulation services are done in house using our standard 32 point regulation system, over 2,800 adjustments come together to bring the smoothness and fluidity back to your piano.
- We offer:
- Key Bushing cloth replacement (both rails, front and center) using German wool
- Front Rail Felts Replacement (using either dark green or pear green felts(highest quality German Wool)
- Back rail/rest rail felt replacement (using either dark green or pear green felts(highest quality German Wool)
- Polish front rail pins and center rail pins(we do this to remove the oxidation and reduce the friction of the contact points)
- Replacement of all whippen/repetition felts (this is typical when you prefer us to work with your original parts)
- Back check buckskin leather replacement(we replace all back check leather using the original style Buckskin from Germany)
- Keyframe reconditioning
- Soda blast all screws and metal components to remove decades of oxidation. Soda blasting is the best method in removing only the oxidation but leaving the integrity of the original solder joints and manufacturing marks on the components)
- Replacement of the piano hammers shanks & Hammers. We offer Genuine Steinway Hammers, Renner(German Made) Hammers, Abel(German Made) Hammers or Pacific Gold(Japanese) . All hammers are not created Equal and depending on a few determining factors we can help you select the best choice for your piano.
Upright Piano Action Replacement/ Restoration (we can partially replace or entirely replace all components)
- Duplication and reconstruction of the original action assembly( we completely remanufacture all aspects of the action including keytops and keyframe) This service will ensure the action is brand new in every aspect
- Replacement of the whippens/repetitions with either Tokiwa(Japan), Steinway(USA), Renner(Germany) or Abel(Germany) parts
Our Favorite Pianos
All fine pianos have a soul or a rich unique sound that separates them from other piano brands. The highest quality pianos in our opinion are as follows: Steinway & Sons, Baldwin, C. Bechstein, Mason & Hamlin, Bluthner, Ibach, Weber NY, Wm.Knabe, Chickering, Kranich & Bach, Bosendorfer, Kimball, Gulbransen, and all other American and German made pianos. We possess the special skills needed to recognize the piano’s needs in order to obtain the sound and feel you are looking for.