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NoteWorthy Pianos

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NoteWorthy Pianos

Piano Tuning and Repairs in Middle Tennessee. Traditional Services for your NoteWorthy Piano! "Piano tuning and repairs in the Middle Tennessee area.

Locally owned and operated. Making your piano the best it can be."

09/09/2026

Last weekend was all about repinning hammers. I recently attempted to regulate a client's Hamilton upright, only to find that when the action was properly regulated the hammers would bobble, which is when the hammer strikes twice when the key is pressed only once. It turned out that the hammer friction was far too low, with each hammer fl**ge only needing about 2 grams of force to move, making them too bouncy due to lack of stiffness in the pivot point.

A second client has a Steinway Model O, a fantastic grand piano that has seen much wear and tear through the decades, and it also had hammer friction issues. Same deal here: regulation alone would not fix the playability problem, this time because the friction was much too high; about 8-10 grams of force needed to be applied to move the hammer fl**ge, which is extraordinarily stiff!

I keep 10 different sizes of centerpins, which are the main pivot points in each action part. By reaming and burnishing the cloth bushing around the pins, and adjusting the sizes of pins, I can make the hammers sit at any friction level I choose. By bringing the upright hammers into the 4-6 range and the grand hammers into the 2-4 range, both actions now play smoothly and can be regulated properly! If you're curious, I set the upright hammers to a higher level on the gram gauge because it has very new and stiff springs that pull the hammers back into place. I wanted stiffer centerpins to make sure that the hammers didn't bounce because of the high tension from the springs. Grand hammers just reset with gravity, so I like having those set a bit lower.

09/02/2026

About a month ago I scheduled a bridle strap replacement job for a very old upright. I brought the bridle straps, and several other tools for some other miscellaneous fixes, but I forgot the tool that I use to insert the new straps! Normally I use straps that have a cork on the end which lets me insert the new one very easily without having to worry about spacing, but I need a long tool with a small needle on the end to puncture the cork. Without that tool, it's almost impossible to insert the new straps consistently.

Who needs a tool when you can make a tool?

With a hammer shank, a drill, some piano wire, CA glue, and clippers, I made my own! After clipping the shank and the piano wire to the right length, drilling a hole for the wire and gluing it in, I had a perfectly functional bridle strap tool. I ended up tossing it when I finished the job since the glue reside soaked into the wood and made it too dirty and sticky to continue using, but it worked extremely well in a pinch. It's always good to be creative in this type of work; you never know when you'll need to make your own tools!

08/26/2026

One of my favorite tools is my hammer shank reducer. I've been working on another hammer replacement job for a grand piano, and a while back I bought this tool, but it's simple engineering continues to impress me! Its spade base fits into my multitool handle, and the unique end involves four threaded blades with space in between each blade; whenever the nut screws down, it clamps the blades inward, creating a tighter circle. It's like an adjustable pencil sharpener! It allows me to shave down old hammer shanks to make room for new hammers+glue, and it also allows me to easily and quickly cut all the old glue residue off the shanks. I have a lot of neat tools, but sometimes the most fascinating ones have the simplest engineering.

08/19/2026

I offer a generic "Sticky Key Fix" on my online scheduler, which can mean anything from an actual sticking key from a spilled liquid or a stuck object to high friction in the action or the key. In this case, a client booked a regular tuning along with that Sticky Key Fix and when I asked her what the problem was, she said that Eb above middle C wasn't playing at all, and the Ab above middle C had a sluggish damper creating some unnecessary ringing when played. I brought tools to repin and ream any pivot pins or bushings, on the hunch that both problems were friction related, and it turned out I was right! After identifying that the jack on the Eb had incredibly high friction, preventing the hammer from resetting after being played, I removed the pin, reamed the bushing and lubricated it, and then put in a new pin to lower the friction to a standard level (about 4 grams of tension required to move the jack). After reaming and lubricating the damper guide bushing, the damper was also working as intended, no longer sluggish in its return.

I hope you enjoy this documentation! Some people don't realize that a piano technician can service every part of a piano, not just tuning, and so they get used to flaws like these and assume that the piano needs to be replaced. Fortunately, these valuable instruments just need a little TLC to play beautifully. I enjoyed being able to take care of this piano, and I hope I can take care of yours, too!

08/12/2026

While resurfacing the hammers for an action, I noticed that the bass hammers had been shaved on the bottom half, likely to prevent them from rubbing during play. The bass hammers are typically angled to match the sharp angle of the bass strings, but since they're cut and bored at an angle they can get in each other's way sometimes. I've seen many hammers with angled tails (the wooden part that sticks out the back of the hammer head), but I've never seen angled felt like this!

08/05/2026

On last week's Ibach upright, I actually had one more thing that needed some repair: the pedal felt! Piano pedals have springs that push them back into place, and of course your foot which pushes them down. Between the two, there's quite a bit of force that is exerted on the pedal. While the pedal is plenty strong, the felt that cushions it at the top and bottom can wear down, and when that happens you start hearing the "thud" noises that the felt is supposed to prevent. Old pedal felt compressed to the point where it is no longer performing its job, and it can make an otherwise beautiful piano look older. I took some time to swap out the old black felt with brand new red to make the pedals sound and feel much better.

There are many things in a piano that age without you realizing it, just like in a car. You may have your oil changed regularly, but without you knowing it, your coolant could be going bad. In a piano, you may have it tuned regularly, but have you checked your pedal felt lately? It may be a symptom of other underlying maintenance that you haven't noticed. Feel free to give me a call so I can help you discover what your piano needs to play like new!

08/01/2026

Sometimes even the best pianos need a little maintenance.

This beautiful Ibach upright gets used for piano lessons and was starting to look a little worn. The hammers needed to be resurfaced, the keys needed to be rebushed, and the action needed to be regulated. Regulation is a tricky topic because there are several adjustments within the action that need to be made before an action feels "factory" and it can sometimes be difficult to point out exactly what is going wrong that needs to be corrected. One example that I like to show is what piano techs call "checking" which is the position the hammer ends at when the key is pressed once. The checking in this piano was extremely close to the strings; the first photo shows two hammers, one too close and one just right, while the second shows the bass hammers actually touching the copper strings. If I ever see a piano that has poor checking, I can immediately assume that it has other regulation issues as well. It was a lot of fun to work on this piano! Not every piano is a dramatic revival; many times, it's a good piano with just a little wear that needs some maintenance to keep going.

07/27/2026

I've begun work on a 1936 Kurtzmann grand to restore it to its former glory! This piano hasn't had much maintenance over the years, but it'll soon have new hammers and a fresh regulation to make it play wonderfully. Right now I'm waiting on new hammers to come in for it, but I've cleaned, polished, and repaired several parts in the meantime. Many of the keytops were coming unglued, and C8 key had a missing backcheck leather as well as a missing whippen return spring that needed to be replaced. More to come in the future when the hammers have arrived!

07/21/2026

I recently made a little more progress on my 1904 Mason and Hamlin upright; 120 years of dirt comes up pure black! It looks great now, and I'm excited to put keys in soon so I can test some things before purchasing replacement action parts.

07/05/2026

Happy Independence Day! I'm extremely grateful for all those in our history that made our country what it is today; the prevalence of music, especially the many pianos and the opportunity to tune them, is very unique to America. I celebrated the day with family after listening to the Stars and Stripes Forever by John Philip Sousa!

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Services Available In:
Mount Juliet, TN
37090

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5:30pm
Tuesday	9am - 5:30pm
Wednesday	9am - 5:30pm
Thursday	9am - 5:30pm
Friday	9am - 5:30pm

Website

https://www.noteworthypianos.com/

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