Frequently Asked Questions

Check the list below to see if your question has already been answered. 

WHy do I need tuning?

We recommend, as piano manufacturers do, that pianos be tuned twice a year. 

Please mind your children who have sensitive ears. Their ears naturally pick up the pitch from your piano. They use to learn pitch sense from what they play and listen. If they played un-tuned piano for regular practice, development of pitch sense of them are not successfully obtained. Also they may confuse the pitch between their piano and surrounding pitch source such as teacher's piano and music. 

Are maintenance packages different from tuning?

The maintenance packages Yuji offers includes tuning and additional maintenance work such as regulation, voicing and small repairing to keep the piano in healthier level. 

What is the best position in my room?

A stable and comfortable environment is best for your piano. Face inner wall, avoid near window, entrance door, direct sunlight, heater central heating bents, underfloor heating and direct air from air pump etc.  

Frequent moves and extremes of humidity and/or temperature will make tuning unstable and can permanently damage some components of your piano. Excessive humidity can swell timber and felt, causing sluggish mechanisms and keys which stick. Excessive dryness will split timber, break glue joints and cause loose, noisy mechanisms.

A Dampp-Chaser®, Piano Life Saver System can help create a stable environment for your piano. Having your piano in a poor position or environment will cause problems, tuning instability and, may void a warranty. 

I'm moving house, how do I shift my piano?

Do not attempt to move the piano yourself. The risk of injuring yourself and damaging the piano is simply too great. We strongly recommend:

·       In Auckland, A23 Piano Movers (changed business name from Atutolu Piano Movers recently)

09 360 2423, 027 560 2423, info@atutolupianomovers.co.nz

·       In Wellington and for piano movements long haul, Amoova 050 8008 050, contact@amoova.com 

Is my piano covered by house and contents insurance?

Many household insurance policies require musical instruments over a specified value to be notified. It's worth checking that your piano is covered.

Why yuji does not service "over-damper" pianos?

How do I recognise them?

Here are two photos. The first is a piano with over damper system (which Yuji doesn't service) and second, a piano with conventional under damper system.

Does yuji service player pianos?

Yuji doesn't service player pianos. They have hundreds of rubber tubes and big devices in the piano. It is very difficult to do any general piano work such as replacing broken string etc. It could be tuned but usually the tuning is not satisfied due to poor condition and difficulty of tuning procedure.

I recommend contacting Kevin Hanna for servicing and restoring.   

what kind of tone do I expect from yuji's tuning?

Yuji has recognized piano tone as a musical tone which contains crispy consonants and rich & colorful vowels. He believes the best possible tone would be crafted by having clear picture of what to do in all technical works.

For achieving this level of tonal quality, Yuji pays strong attention to detail in his work. For example, he cares how to strike keys when tuning, settings details of basic structure, create hammer felt spring for the best possible tone.

What is Touch weight Management?

The Touch Weight Management (TWM) is the system to analyze the action from view of touch weight and improving it by looking at both static balance weight and kinetic resistance.

It is possible adjusting touch weight by changing mass of hammer head, changing leverage of the action components and positioning of key weights.  Manufacturers look at only static weight to set their specification, so sometimes sensitive pianist feels too light or too heavy even specification is met. TWM looks at kinetic resistance at same time as static balance weight so that it can achieve suitable touch weight for specific person to feel very comfortable and smooth feeling.