Piano Condition Checklist
Check any issues you find during inspection to see how they affect the piano's grade.
Soundboard shows signs of damage or separation
Bass strings are dead or have no resonance
White/black keys have sustain problems
Signs of rust, mould, or moisture damage
Excessive brass wear or corrosion
Sticky hammers or keys that don't return properly
Keys don't drop properly or have excessive play
Hammers make clicking sounds or are broken
Piano is significantly out of tune
Hammer let-off timing problems
Keys are not properly leveled or aligned
Keys have excessive lateral movement or wobble
Inconsistent key depth or travel distance
Poor damping mechanism affecting sound quality
Keys are too heavy or have inconsistent touch weight
Loose screws affecting piano stability or function
Overall tone sounds too mellow and no power however hard you play the keys
Sound is too harsh with lots of metal sounds
Overall Condition Grades
Grades are automatically calculated based on your checklist selections.
Original base quality of piano sound
Ear tuning is a rare skill
We are one of the few, countable on one hand, who still practice it.
Click & Listen!
what is this piano and what did i do on it?
Tuning a piano is like setting dominos
Everything is about the relationships among different notes. It is never about how precise you can make a single note sound. It is about the whole piano.
But we are not tuners?
The piano above was a 41 years old Low-end baby grand
After 10 hours' craftsmanship, it is a performance grand
How to buy a good piano ?
Concert Tuning | Better than brand new | Full Potential
- $10 discount for regular customers
- $50 discount for computer assisted tuning
- Extra $50 for grand pianos
- Extra $50 for brand new pianos tuned more than 1 year ago
- Extra $50 for old pianos have not been tuned for decade
- May vary based on the distance
- Fully Ear Tuning
- Overall maintenance
- Within 3 hours of work
- Choose one of following task to be focused
- Thoroughly clear the potential malfunction
- Beautiful tone (dynamic and lingering)
- Brand new keyboard touch
- Generally improve the above
- Fully Ear Tuning
- The best upright or an upright touches close to performance grand
- Piano of its full potential
- It touches like the keys become part of your body
- You can realize any volume, any tone, any speed effortlessly.
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Everything you need to know
Here are the most questions people always ask about.
What should I do after I got a secondhand piano? A maintenance with tuning, regulation, and voicing is necessary. Even the climate is not changing, all the parts of a piano is changing itself. A simple example: the screws may be loose. Regulation is more about the'touch' of the playing. Voicing is about the sound quality itself. Voicing on a 10-year-old piano is like preparing a brand new piano for you.
Where do you service piano? Generally, Melbourne metropolitan area. Our technicians cover a wide range of suburbs including, but not limited to: Balwyn, Balwyn North, Toorak, Burwood, Burwood East, Ivanhoe, Box Hill, Box Hill North, Lilydale, Doncaster, Doncaster East, Canterbury, Nunawading, Mont Albert, Mont Albert North, South Morang, Surrey Hills, Glen Waverley, Blackburn North, Blackburn South.
How to buy Secondhand pianos in Australia Please follow these rules strictly. It's best to avoid any pianos older than 1979 to sidestep potential issues. Avoid any wood color vintage pianos. E.g., for Yamaha, U1F, U2F, U3F, U1G, U2G, U3G, U1H, U2H, and U3H models, often have deteriorated soundboards that reduce their value and performance. Unlike violins, pianos do not age as gracefully. For a reliable assessment, consider booking a inspection with us before finalizing your purchase, we have 20+ items to inspect for you.
Piano tuning cost? In Melbourne, a proper piano tuning cost up to 300$, but a full service provided by a professional piano technician is not just tuning. It involves Tuning, Regulation, and Voicing. No technician at the moment inculude these cost into their 'piano tuning cost'. At Flow Piano, we charge a full ear tuning up to $250 if you have an upright piano 10km away from Box Hill.
Can I tune a piano myself? Absolutely, you can tune a piano yourself and we encourage you to give it a try. However, after experiencing the challenge firsthand, you’ll likely find that entrusting us with your piano actually saves you more money in the long run, while ensuring an exceptional touch and tone, better than brand new. With our expertise, it could very well be the last piano you'll ever need.
How long does piano tuning take? 90% of the time, tuning is completed within 1.5 hours, and 10% of tunings are even finished within an hour. Experienced technicians can manage more processes in the same timeframe. These processes, such as stability tests, cross-checking, and achieving perfect equal temperament, are essential to make the tuning stable and harmonized. A tuning that includes 5 processes and takes 1 hour is much better than the same processes that takes 3 hours, as the piano is changing during the tuning.