Most important is the stability of the room conditions which determine the required frequency with which a piano is tuned. Anything else mostly pertains to how much the piano is being used. And ideally it is being played a lot! This is what a Bösendorfer is made for and it certainly is best for an instrument to be “exercised.”

We offer Tuning and Maintenance Calls, the latter always including (apart from tuning) all regular minor maintenance such as applicable voicing and regulation in order to keep your instrument in overall ideal playing condition and to your highest level of enjoyment.

A Maintenance Call on regular basis further ensures that your piano is regularly exposed to an expert eye and ear, who can notify you of less than beneficial room conditions and will right away alert you of any undue characteristics or irregularities which your instrument may develop.

A piano which has not received regular maintenance may at some point need a Service Call which includes full Voicing and Regulation, which can at times be extensive depending on the condition of the instrument, and occasionally minor to major repairs.

Bösendorfer New York’s technical department is headed by our president, Gerhard Feldmann, Bösendorfer Piano Maker-by-training and Concert Technician of world renown. He applies the utmost care to every piano he lays his hands on and we are delighted to accommodate you at your wishes so that your piano may too benefit from his very special expertise and intrinsic knowledge.

Tuning

The process of tuning is a delicate and intricate process requiring expert skill and an extremely sensitive ear (although there are technicians who tune with the help of electronic devices). There are several hundred strings in a piano which must work together in harmony. Through the process of tuning each string is adjusted.

Pianos can go out of tune for several reasons, but the main culprit is climate change: variations in temperature and humidity. Pianos are approximately 80% wood by constitution, and are thus very sensitive to these changes.

Voicing

The sound quality of the piano can be referred to as its "voice," whether it be mellow or brilliant in tone. Voicing can take a more mellow sound to a more brilliant one, or vice versa. Essentially, the harder the hammer is, the brighter the tone will be. And the softer the hammer is, the mellower the resultant tone. This also affects the sustain of the tone itself and the possibility of the inert qualities of the instrument to surface. Voicing is the process of softening or hardening the hammer to create the perfect quality of sound for the instrument in relation to the room that houses the instrument – the room being the vessel for the sound – and the process by which the piano is set up to your own own tonal specifications.

Over time, the felt on the hammer gradually compresses which results in a brighter tone. Therefore your piano will need partial voicing with some frequency depending on how much you play. These small adjustments make sure that there are no piercing notes and/or notes which are too soft, keeping the sound balanced and to your liking.

Regulation

The piano action is made up of thousands of small moving parts. These parts are adjusted precisely to facilitate the utmost articulation, so that your hands can almost become one with the instrument. Because action parts are made of wood and felt, they are prone to climate changes. Various piano companies have experimented through the years with different materials to little or no avail. We however hold fast to “living” materials – while they may at times require more work, there is nothing that substitutes the real thing!

Every piano must go through small regulation adjustments throughout its life to keep it working at its very best. An action with just the slightest irregularities will no longer be the great pleasure to play you have come to know and expect. Regulation keeps the transition between keys at its smoothest and most uniform, thereby once again giving you the feeling of utmost control and the greatest freedom for artistic expression.

Repair

A piano left untended over a longer period of time may develop issues that need
a more thorough addressing. Or perhaps a minor situation has occurred at your home or the place of practice or teaching, and the instrument suddenly shows inexplicable faults. Expertly addressed, these can usually be corrected right away and save you from greater problems down the road. Sometimes however, a deserving piano is not treated with proper care and more serious work needs to be performed, restoring the instrument to its ideal condition and initial glory.

We can address all your piano service needs, from a regular maintenance to a more involved repair and restoration on an expert level so that you can be rest assured that your beloved instrument is in the very best of hands.

Bösendorfer New York’s technical department is headed by the president, Gerhard Feldmann.