I have had to adjust my Standard Tuning Fee to £70 inc. due to rising costs and overheads.

This is the first raise in approx 3 years and I strive to be competitive and value for money.

Most people pay me Online/Bank Transfer/BACs but of coarse I can still accept cheque and cash.

Please call me on 01728 453978 after 5:00pm weekdays or anytime Monday (office day) or Weekends.

Email: mwpianos@aol.   Text (only please): 07814 013890. 

I am based in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. 

Recently I have been concentrating on customer reconditioning work in the workshop.

Consequently I have gradually reduced sales stock and am not buying as often.

I am still very much an active travelling Tuner.

Completed Reconditioning and Repolishing of  1890's Bechstein Model A Grand Piano.

 UPDATE: 

                    

My tuning fee maintains at £60 inc. 

Preferred payment is online (BACS), cheque or cash.

I manage to keep my price from increasing by trying to be fuel efficient

and joining up my appointments in approximately the same area.

This area covers from Lowestoft to Felixstowe coastally and approx 30 miles

inland of Aldeburgh (my home base).

Please contact me on my landline 01728 453978 or email: mwpianos@aol.com.

I will get back to you asap. ( it is difficult during the working day to answer my

mobile phone but I will receive an email immediately).

I am usually contactable on landline on Mondays 9:00am to 5pm doing office work

or evenings/weekends or leave a voice-message. Many thanks, Malcolm. 

 

Despite general rising prices my tuning fee will remain at £60 inc.

and I expect to maintain that for at least the next 12 months. 

These days I prefer online payments if possible, otherwise cheque 

or cash. 

 

I have recently received the third Booster Vaccination and Flu Jab.

Combined with testing and common-sense measures I am confident I am protecting

 my customers and myself from any infections.

I am gradually working through approx. 2 years backlog of tuning appointments

and have been sending out my regular reminder cards.

Please contact me if I have inadvertently missed you or you are 

a new customer.

mwpianos@aol.com

01728 453978   

I am pleased to say that I  had my vaccination  over 3 weeks ago and am gradually getting back to business after the New Year Lookdown inline with Government Guidelines.  I certainly will be observing common sense measures such as social distancing and sanitising hands. 

Please contact me via landline 01728 453978 or email mwpianos@aol.com. 

I do carry a mobile phone but because the nature of my work means I am either driving or working on pianos I ask customers to leave a voice message on my landline (or call me in the evening) and I will contact you directly. I am generally always available all day on Monday, office day.

An email goes directly to my mobile phone and I can get back to you quickly if needed. 

I look forward to seeing all my customers old and new in 2021 and keeping your pianos in fine tune.

 COVID UPDATE JANUARY 2021

Indeed I am still in business and have been tuning pianos during 2020.

As we have been through such confusing times I discontinued my reminder postcards for the time being as I certainly don't want to put my customers in an uncomfortable situation and have only responded to requests.  

However in this recent 2021 lockdown I have thought it sensible to suspend house visits for tuning etc.

I have been assured I will get vaccinated in mid-February and will feel more confident to visit.

These precautions are for your safety and mine. During the pandemic I have been taking the recommended precautions of sanitising my hands and keeping social distance when tuning. No refreshments necessary and preferably online payment although I can accept cheques etc. 

Please DO contact me by phone on 01728 453978 or email mwpianos@aol.com and I will get to you as soon as it is possible.

I have had to make a small increase in my fee to £60. I haven't put my prices up for a few years and needs must. However I rarely make extra charges for repairs, etc and try to keep as reasonable as is possible.

Thank you for your patience, Malcolm.

My actual email address

My email address, which is not published on my Website is:

mwpianos@aol.com or use the contact form on website:

www.pianotuning.uk.com

One of the most frequently asked questions I get is: "How much does it cost to get my piano tuned"?
The answer is: "I have a standard charge of £55. It is very rarely more than this unless I have to use costly materials or spend a lot more time working on it. Distance makes no difference either"

Internet links for piano lessons, etc.

There are many free resources for piano players of all abilities and ages on the Internet.
You sometimes have to do the usual trawl through commercial sites and old/dead/confusing links, but there are some excellent, fun and educational places out there!
I have been suggesting the following to customers recently:

www.youtube.com Type in 'free piano lessons' or 'how to play piano' or 'how to read music' etc.
You can also type in the name of a tune/band/style followed by 'piano lesson'.
As an example I found this:
www.freepianolessons4kids.com

My long time favorite for theory practice is:
www.emusictheory.com
there is a great note drill exercise here. (You need to have Java installed, which is painless!)
Also, www.musictheory.net is a simple and clear site.
www.ptg.org click resources then 'learning center'. Yes its American, which is slightly different.
If you go to 'for pianists' you can print and cut-out/fold your own Grand Piano!

When you have a spare moment, the most obvious start is to 'Google' such phrases as:
'free piano sheet music for beginners'. Here I found www.8notes.com
or 'free sheet music', etc. There are many thousands of chord based songs on dozens of guitar sites which can be adapted to piano.

www.freebyte.com/music is for advanced music software, etc.

Happy hunting. If you find any fun/easy/simple games for children please let me know:
mwpianos@aol.com

Flying Piano Co.

Well, with all this talk of gloom and doom here is a touching tale with a hint of drama! ( I would like to also say that pianos are 'flying out of my workshop', but that would be obviously too corny)

Sometime in September I was contacted by a woman from Woodbridge who was interested in a Baby Grand. I had one in stock, a Murdoch, reconditioned & repolished for a very reasonable £1500. She liked and asked about delivery, adding that she wanted it in her living room on the first floor. Unfortunately the stairs were very difficult and a stair-lift made the situation more-or-less impossible. However, there was always the balcony! For a mild and sweet 'little old lady' she certainly had guts and determination, or that's what she was expecting in my dept.

She was quoted over £600 by a delivery firm 'near Woodbridge', cor what a rip-off I thought and made a few calls to some good ole local boys. The car restorer and vehicle recovery expert Peter Teager of Tunstall had a look, we agreed a sensible price and so it went.

I roped in ( almost literally ) the help of Carl, a large Lifeboat Man and allround strong person and we (they) got it up with out any trouble. Here is a picture of him sizing up the situation.

The touching part of this, as mentioned, was the fact that the woman was determined to buy this piano for herself, for her 91st BIRTHDAY!!! I must say it looked great in her living room and she was thrilled. So much so that she played a couple of songs before I left (which I attempted to sing along too). Oh Happy Days! Oh, and her name was Mrs.Diamond and she certainly lived up to that!

(I haven't really got the hang of spacing the pictures out on this blog, so please excuse my skills in this dept. I really am much better at tuning and restoring pianos. And occasionally moving them!)

My Tool Case

This is strictly for tool 'nerds', of which, I believe, there are plenty.

I have had most of these tools since the 70's when I completed my training in London. A woman came into The Piano Workshop, which was then on Fleet Road, Hampstead and asked if we would like to have her deceased husbands piano tech tools "yes pleeease" was the chorus of replies. As soon as she closed the door behind herself a disgraceful scrum ensued. I must admit I was pleased with my haul of a handful of ancient tools, some I have dated back to pre-1880's, when Buck & Ryans, tool suppliers,Tottenham Court Road, were simply called Buck.

I have tried new tools and have had to return them to the suppliers, slipping handles, poor steel, etc.

I rarely use power tools, sometimes to drill a hole, or polish ivory keys and can more-or-less rebuild a piano from this collection of hand tools.

On the right I have laid out the tools needed for tuning only, I could almost fit them in my back pocket! But I rarely visit an instrument that doesn't need a little adjustment here and there.

I live in fear that someone would break into my car and steal these tools, as they would have no use for them, except perhaps a screwdriver, pliers and a small hammer. The rest would probably get thrown over a wall as useless! Fortunately this is a rare occurrence in this part of Suffolk.

I hope you found this chapter interesting, especially all you other tool 'nerds' out there.

Westminster Abbey

I am not one for blowing my own trumpet ( or playing my own piano, come to think of it!) but I keep forgetting to add a little brag about my business.

I sold a piano to Westminster Abbey just before Christmas 2007. I personally delivered it, around the back. All went well and it was a fun experience. The piano will be used by the Choir Master to train the boys. By coincidence my nephew attended the school and choir many years ago.

This was one of my standard overstrung reconditioned upright instruments. He just liked the touch/response of the keyboard and the tone. It was also re-polished, so looked respectable enough for its new surroundings.

So there we have it: By Appointment To The Queens Church, Westminster Abbey.

China in grip of a 'piano fever'

I recently heard an article on BBC Radio 4 which left me totally amazed, but then perhaps everything we hear from China is magnified beyond conception. I have since found said article published in the Spectator 4th June 2008.


Petroc Trelawny visits the world's biggest piano factory in the country where under Mao it was dangerous to play the instrument.

He visited the Pearl River Piano Company in the Southern China city of Guangdong where they made 100,000 pianos last year and rising!! Its almost one instrument for every minute of the working day. A basic Pearl River piano costs about £800, a fortune to many Chinese, but well within the budget of the country's burgeoning urban middle classes.

Conservative estimates suggest that 30 million Chinese children are currently learning the instrument; many reckon the figure is much higher. One academic suggested the country was in the grip of 'piano fever'.
Looking for a Pearl River piano in Shanghai Trelawny was told to head for Jin Dong Street. He stopped counting after passing 35 independent shops selling pianos and other instruments, none of them short of customers!

Well, that would keep a piano tuner busy. Who said the piano was in decline? I only hope they don't send them here, especially used ones, the quality is extremely poor. The materials to rebuild a decent European piano cost more than £800!

Online

I now seem to have this online and will start using it to inform of new developments and instruments in the process of restoration. (this is actually just a test, to see if it works!)

Piano Updates

I am starting this blog with the intention of publishing the details of reconditioned pianos coming through my workshop in Aldeburgh.

Here is my first example. A fully reconditioned CHAPPELL 7 1/4 octave upright with ivory keys.

I have stripped and repolished the case with french-polish. This is one of the finest English pianos from the '30s. The price is £1200 including delivery and initial tuning/set-up.

www.pianotuning.uk.com