PIANO TUNING

Author : Glenn Hickey | Published On : 26 Sep 2026

According to Emanuel, restoring a grand upright piano has countless benefits. These antique pianos possess a unique sound quality, come with custom cabinets and veneers, were created using superior craftsmanship and are considered valuable investments. Emanuel Rey offers professional piano restoration, rebuilding and restringing services to clients, and specialises in the repairs of authentic Steinway pianos. At Sydney Tuners, we are dedicated to the craft of piano tuning, repair, and restoration. Led by Curt Wilkinson, a seasoned piano technician with a legacy rooted in precision and passion, we bring decades of expertise to every job. He has rebuilt two grand pianos for Ravenswood School, plus many others for private customers.
We carefully and gradually raise the pitch across all strings to safely return the instrument to the correct level, preparing it for a final fine tuning and ensuring lasting, balanced results. It's recommended that pianos are tuned at least every six to twelve months to maintain optimal condition. If your piano is more than 4hz flat at A4, or 20 cents flat overall, it may require a 'catch-up' tuning service. Pianos are always tuned to concert pitch piano tuner in norwest (A440) in one sitting, where possible.

We provide tailored upright piano tuning to suit the instrument and the musician. Martin Tucker is a ‘piano doctor’, diagnosing glitches in everything from ancient uprights to baby grands. Australia was once home to the largest number of pianos in the world, but electric keyboards have taken over, and most pianos are destined for landfill. Seeking new clients, Martin heads north with a carload of spare keys, strings and other paraphernalia. Everyone he meets along the way, whether hospitable old-timers, isolated eccentrics or enthusiastic families, has a story to tell about their relationship with the piano. Over eight years, director Natalia Laska filmed her partner Martin, capturing his obsession and dedication, and celebrating Australia’s love for this marvellous instrument and its music.
Bringing it up all the way to concert pitch from so far below in just two sessions was pretty amazing on its own. The price you have charged for all the work you have done is truly a bargain.”. We service a wide range of pianos across Sydney, from family uprights to grand pianos in schools and performance spaces.
As pianists ourselves, our goal is to help you sound your best and make your piano feel great to play. For students, especially beginners, the piano becomes their primary reference for learning pitch and musical accuracy. When the piano is out of tune, the brain gradually adapts to incorrect sound patterns. This can lead to confusion when playing on a properly tuned piano at school, during exams, or in ensemble settings, where accurate pitch is essential. At Magico Piano Tuning, aural tuning is an essential part of delivering an accurate, musical result.

All listed services are available within Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Wollongong & Canberra locations. Additional fees apply for out of metro areas and weekend or after hours appointments (depending on availability). Piano Showroom with a huge array of pianos suitable for beginners to professional pianists. Correcting pitch drift caused by playing, humidity and seasonal change across a longer string length, so every octave sits true again. If you have invested your money in a good quality instrument, it would be wise to protect your investment with proper care.
We inspect the interior thoroughly to identify whether movement or shifting is behind the problem, rather than tuning over the top of an issue that will simply return. David subsequently worked for Blüthner Pianos in London, regularly tuning pianos at the Trinity College of Music. In 1982, David went freelance, but continued to tune the Trinity Pianos as a subcontractor. A grand’s larger soundboard and longer strings make it even more sensitive to environmental change than an upright.

That said, the most important factor is the quality and stability of the tuning, rather than the instrument type alone. Australia once had the greatest number of pianos per capita, but now we discard thousands of them every year. The new documentary The Piano Tuner celebrates the delicate and dying art of piano tuning and the importance the piano plays in communities and households across the country.
Emanuel is highly skilled at restoring both grand as well as upright pianos back to complete functionality meeting top Swiss standards, and offers the finest piano restoration and repair services in Australia. We are here to assist you with any inquiries you may have about our piano tuning and repair services for grand and upright pianos in Sydney. Feel free to reach out to us, and we will be more than happy to provide you with the information you need. Twenty-five years ago, David restored my beautiful but weary 19th Century Bluthner to new life as an instrument with a lovely rich tone.
It’s estimated that at least one piano tuner is needed per 50,000 people – that means Australia is running about 250 short across the board, and even further behind when it comes to high-quality technicians. Thousands of pianos are imported into Australia each year, yet we have a shortage of qualified piano technicians to service them. Buying a second-hand piano can indeed be a riskier task than buying a new one, but if budget is an important factor, then the second-hand piano market can indeed be somewhat more appealing.

Voicing carefully restores the tonal character of the piano without changing its tuning or mechanical structure. The goal is not to make the piano louder or softer, but to shape the sound so that it feels more natural, expressive, and consistent for the player. Emanuel Rey offers a one stop solution for all piano restoration needs under a single roof and travels to the residence or workshops of his clients to provide outstanding services. Beyond servicing pianos, I love playing the piano myself which gives me a better understanding of the needs of other pianists and makes it easy for me to offer encouragement and advice. An upright can drift out of tune from playing alone, but environmental change matters just as much. Timber expanding and contracting affects the pinblock, soundboard and frame.
Either way, David is a master repairman who will happily come out to your studio, school or recital centre to ensure your instrument is simply stunning to enjoy. "They expect all of those 240-odd strings to be perfectly in tune and that's my job," Mr Harper says. "My dad said, come down and you can tune all the pianos around the building," Mr Harper says. "He sent the orchestra off into the Botanic Gardens for an hour or two while he tuned the piano and the pianist came back and was very happy," Mr Harper says. Finding these issues early allows them to be corrected before they lead to more serious repairs.