Piano Restoration and Rebuilding for Providence
Restoring pianos for Providence, RI
Providence is close enough to Boston that a piano from either city usually travels on the same run to Buffalo.
We rebuild fine pianos for Providence owners, Steinway, Baldwin, Mason & Hamlin and many others, at our own facility: restringing, pinblock and soundboard replacement, complete action rebuilds and hand refinishing.
What we take on for Providence customers
Major repair and full restoration only, at our shop in Buffalo. No tuning, regulation or minor repairs in Providence: those belong to a technician near you, and we would rather say so than sell you a long-distance callout. Getting the piano here is our problem, not yours. See how our service area works.
Working with Rhode Island
The East Side's nineteenth-century houses are full of instruments that arrived when the rooms were built. Those pianos were made when materials were better than anything at a comparable price today, and that is what makes a rebuild worth doing rather than replacing.
The Rhode Island Philharmonic and its music school, together with Brown and RISD, keep a serious performing and teaching community in a compact city. Instruments in that world get used, and used instruments eventually need structural work.
Coastal damp in summer and dry heat in winter is a hard cycle for a piano. It shows up as loose tuning pins, cracked soundboards and glue joints that let go, and those are exactly the failures a full rebuild addresses rather than papers over.
Frequently Asked Questions
My soundboard is cracked. Is the piano finished?
No. Soundboard replacement is demanding work, but it is work we do, and it is often what genuinely brings an old instrument back rather than merely making it playable again.
Can you get a grand out of a narrow city house?
Usually, and where a stairway will not take it a hoist is arranged. Access is the first thing to plan, not the last, so send photographs of the doors, stairs and street with your enquiry.
Is it really worth shipping a piano to Buffalo?
For a full restoration, yes. The instrument occupies our bench for months, so freight is a small share of the total, and you get the whole job done under one roof by the people who quoted it.
Do you sell restored pianos as well?
We do. If your instrument turns out not to be worth rebuilding, buying one we have already restored is often the cheaper route. See what is on the floor.