FAQs

TL;DR 70-80% of our clients are having their pianos serviced twice a year (every 6 months).

Brand new or young (< 5 years old ) piano:

Most manufacturers recommend a new piano get tuned quarterly (4 times a year) for the first few years. This is due to new string stretch, and the piano adjusting to the Colorado dry climate. 

General home use:

We recommends having your piano serviced once every 6-12 months depending on 1) your home's environment, and 2) how often you play.  Keep in mind, we're not just tuning your piano, we're making sure everything is functioning as expected. Think of it as your 12-point inspection during your car's oil change.

Heavy use of more than 8-12 hours a week, facilities with unstable climate control, and/or you have a sensitive ear, we often schedule quarterly.

In the situation where we have you on a 6-month schedule, and the piano has reached a great point of tuning stability, we use your scheduled service appointment for touch-up tuning, and allow the rest of the time for other services such as regulation and voicing.

For further reading on tuning and general maintenance, check out this article on PianoBuyer.com

If you are a new client, we schedule an appointment block for 3-4 hours appointment (depending on age of piano, and which technician is available). This allows us to meet each other, to meet your piano, and get a little bit of history and evaluation baseline! A new piano to us usually means it hasn't been tuned in more than 12 months, and will need more extensive tuning. It is also likely that your piano needs repairs (sticky keys, weird noises, pedal issues, etc.). Small repairs which can be completed (after tuning) within the pre-scheduled timeframe are included in the initial service charge.  Any larger repairs or issues that need more than the original appointment need to be scheduled for a further appointment, and will cost accordingly. When you book through the self-scheduler, it will give you the cost and an estimate of time based on the services you have selected.

When your piano is serviced by us regularly, expect a standard service appointment to last about 2 hours. If your piano is extremely stable (not needing pitch adjustments), we can often tune the piano much more quickly, and utilize the remainder of the time for services such as regulation, voicing, or small repairs.

Sky Piano Services, LLC does not provide appraisals. 

In general, if the value of your piano is less than $5,000, most insurance companies should not need a formal appraisal report.

That being said, if you need an appraisal for insurance purposes, we work with a Certified Appraiser who is also a technician, though in another state. We come take pictures, evaluate the condition, touch, and tone, and write a report. This report is then sent to our Certified Appraiser, and they create a certified report which includes value for insurance purposes. 

If you want to do some of your own research for personal reasons, or to get an idea what to sell your piano for (or want to know if a piano you are looking at purchasing is priced well), please check out these resources from PitanoBuyer.com :

About Piano Pricing 

Piano Pricing Lookup 

How much is it worth? 

Colorado is a whole different beast when it comes to dryness. It gets dry, and stays dry. It is even dry in the summer, except during the rainy season.

Pianos are affected with fluctuations in Relative Humidity (RH). RH is determined by the moisture content in the air. The hotter it gets, naturally... the more humid it gets. When we start running heaters, that dries out the air. Colder is usually more dry, and then add heating devices, and it gets extremely dry. 

Pianos are made of wood, glue, felt, and steel. 

Glue

High humidity degrades glue. Cold and extreme temperatures degrade glue.

When glue joints fail, anything can start to fall apart.

Wood

Wood expands and contracts with the changes in RH. The soundboard specifically, rises and falls. This large part of your piano constantly moving is the number one cause of your piano going out of tune. When it is too humid, moving parts that have absorbed too much moisture bind and rub causing sluggishness in the feel.

Felt

Felt is a natural material, like wood, and is very susceptible to absorption and release of moisture. When we are adjusting your piano to 0.001" measurements, a loss of moisture can mean extreme changes to the touch of your piano. All of the moving parts inside your piano are made of wood + felt. When the wood dries out and the felt dries out, we lose touch, tone, and the action becomes noisy.

Steel

Steel is more susceptible to temperature changes than to humidity. If it's cold, the steel shrinks, and the string effectively gets tighter (piano goes sharp!). If it's hot, the steel expands, and the piano goes flat.

When the soundboard and the strings are both changing drastically, you can imagine how the piano can go out of tune in "such odd ways". Controlling your environment (keeping windows closed, redirecting nearby air vents, and humidifying the piano/room/home) is the best way to keep the piano from drastically changing tune and touch.

Colorado is a whole different beast when it comes to dryness. It gets dry, and stays dry. It is even dry in the summer, except during the rainy season.

The ideal Relative Humidity (RH) for your piano is 38-42%. Most importantly, keep your RH within a 10% range, and above 20%. 

If you are regularly seeing 30%, that's great! 35-38%? Also great! 

Regularly below 20% is BAD, and will cause long-term damage to your piano

Our recommendation is for you to track your indoor climate with a Bluetooth Hygrometer (Humidity and Temperature Sensor) which has an app to track minute-by-minute readings:

Govee is my favorite due to being able to calibrate it. But the battery (2045 coin cell) doesn't last very long...

ThermoPro is most of my client's favorite, because it has a standard battery (AAA or AA), and it lasts a little longer than Govee. (and the app is prettier)

Both can be purchased in the $12-18 range on Amazon.

If your piano has recently moved to Colorado, especially from a humid climate, please know that if you do not control your humidity immediately, you can see issues as early as 1 month, and as far out as 3 years later. 

Check your Hygrometer Calibration!

Detailed (and simple) Instructions here 

The first thing you should do, is purchase a Hygrometer/Humidity Sensor and place it on top of your piano/music desk to watch what's happening.

In the summer, we sometimes still need to humidify!! However, the winter (Dec - Mar) is the most important time to pay attention to this. 

The ideal Relative Humidity (RH) for your piano is 38-42%. Most importantly, keep your RH within a 10% range, and above 20%. 

After understanding the RH Levels around your piano, we have a few courses of action. 

1. Purchase a room steam humidifier. Depending on your room, these will likely need to be refilled 1-2 times a day in the winter. Venta and AirCare have a few different models with higher capacity. We also have clients using Levoit with success. Most importantly, you should be able to set it to a humidity value not just "low, medium, high".

2. Have an HVAC professional install a whole-house steam humidifier. We strongly recommend the Aprilaire 800 Steam Humidifier, or a GeneralAire Steam Humidifier. Please avoid evaporative ones, they can only run while you are running heat. We hear complaints from almost all clients who have these of "we can't seem to get the humidity above 30%!! And even then, it has a hard time keeping up!".

3. (Last option if the other two aren't doing the job) Hire Sky Piano Services, LLC to install a Piano Lifesaver System. For pricing and to schedule this service, please click on the Book Appointment button, and select which Piano Lifesaver System (Vertical or Grand) you would like to have installed. We are certified installers, and will always fit you in ASAP for this installation. Protecting your piano is the #1 most important thing we can do.