Piano Tuning in a High School Auditorium

Yamaha C6 grand at Platte City High School

I tuned this piano at the Platte City, MO High School. It is a nice Yamaha C6 grand piano and holds a great tune. I went to High School at Platte City and it's nice to see they have this new auditorium. It holds 300 people and has the acoustics modified for the best sound. They also have a new vocal music room that was built last year. The tuning was done for an up coming vocal music concert by a Registered Piano Technician.

Durand Piano Service in Platte City, MO
(816) 587-9970

New or Used Piano Buying Tips

Yamaha console piano tuned and serviced in Platte City, MO

I'm sure your piano playing friends would be glad helping you choose by asking what brands of pianos they like the best. My choice would be a Yamaha or Kawai new or used piano because they hold tune so well. Servicing is a breeze when parts are so easy to get from the manufacturer. Doing a little homework on different brands of pianos will help you make good decisions. I am a registered member of The Piano Technicians Guild and can give good advice on piano buying. Calling a local piano dealer in Kansas City would be a good choice when looking for a new or used piano. A piano salesman can be very friendly when they see dollar signs floating in the sky. If you don't have the bucks the piano dealer seems to have better things to do.

When buying a new or used piano it would be best to get a name brand just in case the student decides piano is not there forte. The resale value of a name brand piano would sell much faster and you would probably get all your money back out of the instrument. Be sure to have a Registered Piano Technician and not your average piano tuner do an inspection before you buy a secondhand piano. A used piano doesn't come with a warranty so you can't take it back later on. The cost of a piano tuning is very affordable and it would be my pleasure to ensure your investment is a secure one.

Some people think they should buy the biggest piano they can afford for the biggest sound. This might be true but you need to figure out what your needs are to know what quality piano to buy. Your favorite music will be very appreciated on a nice piano and will encourage the piano player to reach for a higher goal. If your not sure if you will be sticking with the piano then you should keep things simple. For the beginner a nice console piano can do just fine and will be much cheaper than a grand piano.

The popular black grand piano will give a beautiful romantic setting in a lot of different sized rooms. The appearance of a piano is important to match the furniture in your house. Be sure to contact a professional piano tuner after buying to keep your instrument in proper working order and to ensure great piano enjoyment. Always hire professional piano movers so you don't damage the piano going through doorways.

New or Used Piano Buying Tips for Kansas City MO
(816) 587-9970

Acoustic Piano vs. Digital Piano

Chickering console piano located in Liberty, MO

Kimball grand piano located in Smithville, MO

The soundboard resonance and the effect of the damper pedal still hasn't been duplicated on digital pianos. The good news is you don't have to tune a digital piano but the bad news it doesn't sound as good as a freshly tuned acoustic piano. You don't have to call a piano tuner or the piano movers every time you want to move it to a different room but why the heck would you want to move it anyways.

Piano teachers would rather the student have an acoustic piano at home and they will push the student towards getting rid of the toy to having the real thing. Most piano students will lose interest very quickly on a digital piano from lack of sound quality. Even with an elaborate sound system the interest goes away very quickly. My advice would be to buy an acoustic piano and call a certified piano tuner twice a year to service it. You will have much more enjoyment playing the real thing and piano tuning cost is not that much.

There's been a lot of advancement over the last ten years in multi sampled pianos. The sampled pianos have been sampled at different velocities from soft to loud sometimes up to ten velocities. This is impressive to sample a very expensive $125,000 concert grand at 10 velocities down stroke, 10 release velocities and sample the soundboard resonance of the damper pedal. It looks good on paper and sounds nice on a recording but when you sit down to play the digital piano there is a lot missing.

Physical modelling is the next generation of digital pianos and the advantage is it will use less computer resources. The hard drive and ram space is almost none but will require a faster CPU. Up to 127 different velocities per note can be used and the same with release velocities and soundboard resonance. It doesn't have as good of an attack as the sampled piano and tends to sound boring to play. I can't stand to play a physical modeled piano for more than 15 minutes.

The problem with playing a computer generated piano is the delay or latency from the time you play the note to when the note actually starts. With a good sound card and a fast computer you can get this down to 4 to 8 milliseconds but it still drives you crazy. I want the sound to start immediately for my creativity to set in. Buying a Yamaha acoustic piano and calling a piano tuner twice a year will give you all the musical enjoyment you will ever need.

Acoustic Piano Service for Kansas City MO
(816) 587-9970

Piano Technicians Guild

Russian Grand Piano

Russian grand piano in Parkville, MO

A beautiful grand piano tuned and serviced in Parkville, MO

Here is a piano you don't see everyday. It is a piano made in Russia shortly after World War II and later brought to the United States. You might notice it has half an octave missing in the high treble where the last note is E7. The piano is located in Parkville, MO where I did a pedal lyre repair and works good now. It has a matching piano stool with claw feet. I tune this piano every six months and would recommend a piano tuning twice a year to all my customers. The price of a piano tuning will keep your investment in excellent working condition and make it more enjoyable.

Durand Piano Tuning and Repair Service in Kansas City MO
(816) 587-9970


Piano Technicians Guild