[Grant]

I have been given a 20 year old piano that looks a lot like the one my school used many years ago.
I would like my daughter to learn to play and I have just purchased an electronic gadget to tune it. I now need to buy a key to adjust each string. Where can I buy such a thing and is this really a job I can do? Also, one or two keys are not sitting level, but seem to work when pressed. Is there an easy adjustment to cure this?
Any other advice welcome. Thank you.

[Barrie Heaton]

O’boy fun time – what ETA do you have? I would be very careful the cheep ones are way out in the top treble and you don’t have to go far wrong to break strings. As to buying a tuning leaver all depends where in the world you live, in the UK the supply houses normally will not supply none trade. However, if you look to the quick links to your left the one marked “piano parts” there is a list of companies that supply piano levers and string tools as well

Keys are levelled by placing paper punchings under each key

Barrie,
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Barrie Heaton
Web Master UK Piano Page

[Gill the Piano]

Please please please save yourself time and money and get it done professionally; we have to spend HOURS longer on pianos where people have 'done it themselves', and Barrie's right in saying it's very likely that you will break strings. If you break a bass string they have to be custom made for not less than twenty pounds each, and if you break a treble you need to buy a whole roll of piano wire (miles of it!) of exactly the right guage. More than one breakage = more than one roll of wire...how's your mortgage situation?! A tuner will tell you whether the piano is worth tuning (it sounds as though it is), what it's worth and how to look after it. Don't forget to make him a nice cup of tea - we charge extra if you don't!