PIANO SALES PIANO RESTORATION - Piano blog

Piano perfectionist: Chicken or Egg?

In any language it stills sound the same. If a piano doesn't sound right.... it simply doesn't sound right! I spend my days searching for perfection on all the pianos I work on, this isn't a simple task as most pianos are far from perfect when I come into contact with them.

Sometimes it's like a Chicken or an Egg... what do I do first, if I do not adjust the touch, a perfect tuning isn't going to make much difference. If the hammers are inconsistently hard or soft, each note is going to sound like something is wrong. My big decision is to always to what comes first.

There are three different areas that determine the sound of a piano

The first is the touch, and this is the first thing that connects a piano player with the piano. Adjust the touch to be even and responsive is called regulating. There are approximately 30 procedures that can be adjusted to affect the touch and response of the piano.

Second is the tuning of the piano. It is impossible to adjust the tuning of the piano correctly if the touch of the piano isn't adjusted correctly first. It is also essential to adjust the pitch of the piano to be perfect - A440. Good pianos have been made so that the timber in the piano resonates at A440 concert pitch.

Third is the voicing of the piano. This is where the tone of the piano is adjusted so the volume balance of the piano is perfect, and pleasing to listen to. If the piano isn't perfectly tuned, it is impossible to hear a hammer to correctly adjust it.

All three of these procedures go hand in hand... but sometimes when adjusting things it's a matter of which comes first?

Restoring Ivory Keys - Bradley Fielden - Apprentice Piano technician

The key is the first connection with playing the piano. It is through this important part that the sound is generated, the volume controlled, if you are good enough tone adjusted, and feed back received. The vibration of the piano is felt through the key, the better quality the piano, the better quality the feedback. Keys have been finished with many different materials. Early keyboards were finished with different types of wood, ebony, pear, rosewood, maple, all very hard timbers. Often this meant that the white keys as we know them were black, (or other shades of dark woods that were used.) Ivory sourced from elephants and walrus then became the material of choice around the beginning of the 1800's. Plastic has been used for about 100 years now, some of the early plastics were made from potato starch. Ivory can still be sourced, but is very expensive, check out this website to see what type of ivory it is because if I tell you, you wont believe me! - Ivory

The keys I am working on at the moment are from a Kaim piano made around 1900. Kaim began making pianos in Stuttgart in 1819 and were piano makers to the court of Wurtemburg. We've worked on several Kaim grand pianos since I started my apprenticeship, and all have been pianos of the highest quality. Actually - in thinking about it, all piano makers I have seen from Stuttgart have been of the highest quality.

Britains Got Talent - Michael NG performs on our hire piano!

Michael NG, a 12 year old pianist from Oxford performs on a Petrof grand piano, lent to Britains Got Talent by Shackleford Pianos, based in Cheshire. The stunning peformance by Michael gained him 4 big yeses!

Shackleford Pianos in the news....

Shackleford Pianos has had a great week of events and being in newspapers and magazines.

This is the final week of Marburae Art Gallery's photography exhibition, The Collection, which has seen a great number of visitors and numerous newspaper clips. We held our first 'From The Workshop' Piano recital, performed by Tristan Lee on Sunday 1st April. An intimate and inspiring concert that was featured in Cheshire Life and the Cheshire Independant.

Along with Art and Piano Recitals, the Shackleford Pianos team took a trip to the Musikmesse in Germany to meet the German and English Piano makers first hand. Plenty of piano inspiration, art galleries and a taste of German beer!

Shackleford Pianos has also had a busy week in securing a deal with Feurich Pianos to become the Fuerich distribution centre for the UK. Selected above all other piano companies in the UK due to our ability to distribute nationwide and our technical ability to prepare the Feurich pianos for sale to the British market, distributing as far as Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Another factor for the big move by Feurich is that it is cheaper to distribute the pianos from Macclesfield, than it is to distribute them from port cities such as Liverpool or London.

We are very proud to be recognised by Feurich to have the ability to not only prepare their pianos but to deal with the logistics of distributing them nationwide. We believe that this is an important move by a European company and puts Macclesfield firmly on the map when it comes to pianos.

A great week had by all at Shackleford Pianos!

Shackleford Pianos seals Feurich Piano distribution deal

Press Release

Macclesfield: Centre of the UK

Feurich Pianos, a German piano company has chosen Shackleford Pianos, based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, to be their distribution centre for the UK.

Shackleford Pianos have been selected above all other piano companies in the UK due to their ability to distribute nationwide and their technical ability to prepare the Feurich pianos for sale to the British market, distributing as far as Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Another factor for the big move by Feurich is that it is cheaper to distribute the pianos from Macclesfield, than it is to distribute them from port cities such as Liverpool or London.

Feurich is one of the fastest growing piano manufacturers in Europe due to the amalgamation with Wendl & Lung Pianos and also Hailun Pianos. The companies were joined together to create one larger piano manufacturer with vast technical experience and tradition in making and manufacturing capabilities in order to address the issue of cheap Chinese made and 2^nd hand Japanese imports, such as Yamaha, affecting the German market.

“We are very proud to be recognised by Feurich to have the ability to not only prepare their pianos but to deal with the logistics of distributing them nationwide. We believe that this is an important move by a European company and puts Macclesfield firmly on the map when it comes to pianos” Aaron Shackleford, Director of Shackleford Pianos.

Shackleford Pianos is based on Athey Street. Founded by Aaron Shackleford in 2008 it is one of the fastest growing companies in Macclesfield and the team are well recognised within the industry for their expertise with all aspects of pianos, including sales, removals, restorations, tunings and hires.

Piano Recital Series | Macclesfield | Cheshire

Start spring in style with a world-class performance by Australian pianist Tristan Lee at the premier of From the Workshop a Schulze Pollmann piano recital series based in Macclesfield, Cheshire.

From the workshop’s opening recital provides a chance to hear a composition by acclaimed pianist, composer and fellow Australian, Leslie Howard, together with some of the most famous piano music ever written.

The series is set to have it all, outstanding musicians and oodles of atmosphere. The concert series will be held in the workshop area of Shackleford Pianos so you will be able to listen to world class music in the most appropriate of spaces: a piano restoration workshop!

Tristan Lee, the first Pianist to perform for From the workshop holds a Master of Music Performance from the Royal Northern College of Music and has been musician in residence at St Hilda’s College, Melbourne. Tristan has performed recitals for the Melba Festival and the Diamond Youth Series, appeared as concerto soloist with the Zelman Symphony and Percy Grainger Youth Orchestras, and has been broadcast numerous times on television and radio.

The 1^st performance from the recital series will take place on Sunday 1^st April 2012 at 11.00am. Tickets cost £10.00 inclusive of a cup of tea or coffee. To book tickets or for more information, please visit www.sitespecificmusic.co.uk or call 0800 032 9919.

A day in the life of a piano tuner

Brad our apprentice piano technician stars in a short video clip showcasing our gorgeous Schulze Pollmann 160 Victoria Grand piano. 'Le Onde' Ludovico Einaudi video clip will be following shortly.

Along with being a movie star Brad the amazing piano technician has cleaned, tuned, regulated and voiced a Grotrian Steinweg upright piano so now it sounds and looks beautiful, ready for its new owner to enjoy. Brad's next adventure is to reshape the hammers and clean the keys, before regulating, tuning and voicing the Alexander Hermann upright piano.