Technicians carefully tune the piano over several passes after replacing the strings. Tuning them at pitch immediately would damage the instrument. As David Mann says, “it typically feels like you are wrestling a large snake and that snake is doing everything it can to overcome you” (source here). The strings are much thicker than guitar strings, and require strength, and finesse to effectively place them in the piano. They replace old tuning pins with larger ones, as they have probably loosened over time in the pin block, and need a larger size to fit.įinally, the technician adds strings to the instrument. What would happen? Would the piano explode outward as a cumulative ~15000 lbs of pressure releases on both the top and bottom of the instrument?)Īfter the technician loosens the strings sufficiently she can clip them. (Fun thought experiment: imagine snipping all strings on a fully pressured piano at once. Thus, clipping a string while it is tight releases 100+ lbs of tension all at once, enough to damage the piano. From basic physics we know that the strings are pulling in a cumulative 30,000 lbs while the pins that hold the strings pull out a cumulative 30,000 lbs (with the help of a cast iron plate). Why? A typical piano holds over 30,000 lbs of pressure in its strings. Next, the technician loosens all the strings over several passes.
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In the following video the technician removed everything but the wooden and metal frames to begin working on the restringing process.Ī piano technician shows how to restring a piano If it is an upright this means flipping the piano on its back with a dolly and removing the entire front of the instrument, including the keys, action, and panels!
David Mann, a technician from said that restringing a piano was “ one of the most physically challenging tasks I have ever attempted.“įirst, the technician needs to expose all the strings of the piano.
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How to Restring a PianoĪ technician must follow a series of physically challenging steps to restring a piano. restringing just a section, or a whole instrumentĪn amateur can successfully restring their own guitar, so why is restringing a piano so expensive? To answer that, let’s explore the process.If you restring your piano, your bill will be dependent on several factors such as: Costs vary depending on the quality of string. How much does a set of piano strings cost? You can find sets of piano strings for $250 – $400.
Piano strings cost as little as $2 per string, perhaps less if the technician creates the string from piano wire. With these prices, you may be better off looking to purchase a new piano unless your current piano is of particularly high value. With 40-55 bass strings this would still cost $2000 dollars for the bass octaves of a piano alone.
I saw one technician offer services for $55 per bass string. If only certain sections of strings are damaged, then you might not need to restring the whole piano. An upright might cost $2000 to $4000 to restring, while a baby grand or grand might cost $4000-$10,000. To restring an entire piano it will cost $1,000 to $10,000 + dollars. It turns out that the cost to restring a piano is high, and probably not worth it unless your piano is particularly valuable.
So I tune my piano strings once or twice a year, but eventually the strings will wear out and I will need to replace them, right? Well maybe.
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