Category Archives: A440

Happy New Year to my Leeds and West Yorkshire piano tuning clients!

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Happy 2023 everyone. 2022 was the most financially successful year on record for me by a wide margin – lots of piano tuning, and new friends and contacts made with various Leeds and Bradford theaters, recording studios, schools and churches – plenty of freshly tuned pianos out there today. It was a delight. Don’t let anyone tell you that digital pianos have superseded acoustic pianos – lots of Luddites and purists out there like myself who can appreciate the sound and feel of a real piano.

On that note, please don’t forget to have your acoustic piano tuned regularly – ideally twice a year. It’s best for the piano tuning stability, its tone and its longevity.

  • – Richard Lidster, Piano Tuner Leeds.

My unique selling point; Low fees, no hidden charges

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In these dark days, it seems that costs are rising for everything – except for my piano tuning services. My reasoning is that if I were to put my Leeds piano tuning rates up and lost 20% of my clientele, then I wouldn’t have gained anything and I could potentially upset a lot of my regulars.

I’m also transparent about my fees on this website – I can’t stand hidden charges when I book my car in for a service, so I wouldn’t want to inflict them on anyone else in regard to piano tuning.

Now don’t think a good deal means you won’t receive an exemplary piano tuning service. I now have 11 years experience as a piano tuner in Leeds and beyond under my belt (how time flies!). I’ve been diagnosed (twice) as having pitch perfect hearing (being able to hear the difference of less an 1 cent flat or sharp, or 1/100th of a semitone). I also think that as a musician (grade 8 guitar and a trained vocalist, well known in the Leeds and Yorkshire music scene) I’m more inclined to give your piano the extra diligence that it requires – to pick up on the subtle things that make playing music more enjoyable.

Plan of action this Christmas

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December is here. I’m more or less working a typical schedule this Christmas – despite the pandemic, things won’t be drastically different to other months. I’m only taking Saturday and Sunday off to celebrate Christmas with family, and the rest of the time I’ll be piano tuning or wrapping presents. The week between Christmas and New Years Eve I hope to pack more piano tuning in… although that all depends on what is going on in Leeds and Bradford.

Pennies from heaven for the Leeds Piano Tuner

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It’s that time of year again – industrious piano students are preparing for their grades and their Christmas concerts and their keen ears require their pianos be tuned to A440. Concert halls, venues, clubs, pubs and restaurants in Leeds and Bradford are busier and require their pianos to be tuned as more and more customers mention it to them. I hope I don’t sound ungracious as I appreciate the increased interest, but a weekend booking might be more favourable right now (assuming you can manage it), as my week day West Yorkshire and Leeds piano tuning slots are being snapped up by the second. Please keep a keen eye on my availability page if you’re looking for a Leeds piano tuner, I’m updating it on a daily basis and it’ll give you a general idea of my schedule at the very least. My number is 07542667040 if you’d find it easier to make an appointment verbally.

I don’t know what it’s like for other piano tuners working in Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield etc, but December appears to be the busiest month for anything musical. I’m being sensible with my bookings and not squeezing too much in – I leave sufficient time to do a thorough job on every Yorkshire and Leeds piano tuning.

Worried about Covid-19? I’m double vaccinated, have caught and defeated the virus in the past (thus have built up the antibodies), am testing regularly (last tested today: negative. Previously tested on Saturday: negative). I will wear a mask upon request and naturally keep two metres distance throughout each visit. I don’t think there’s a safer time to book than now – but the decision is yours!

Turning over a new leaf

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Life has been a little bit hectic the last few weeks since my return from holiday. I’ve had lots and lots of catching up to do piano tuning in Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, Harrogate, York, Morley, Thirsk and many bright and colourful places in James Herriot land – and I’m all the better for it. Because of this my Leeds piano tuner availability page fell by the wayside. I’m trying desperately to update it at least once a day but I regularly have days where I leave the house at 7 AM and arrive home at 10 – 11 PM too tired to log in. If the page has not been modified for a few days its purely because of a busy schedule, not because I don’t want to be doing more piano tuning and repair. If the side note says it hasn’t been updated in a while it might be easier to ask for a few days that works around your schedule, and in all likelihood I’ll be happy to arrange it.

  • Richard Lidster, the Leeds Piano Tuner.

When are my working hours?

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I still like to update my ‘Piano Tuner’s Availability’ blog as often as I can. I regularly have days where I leave home at 8 AM and arrive home after 10 PM, at which point I’m too exhausted to log into this site, never mind write about Leeds and piano tuning (if I did, I’d sound tired and cranky!). In an ideal world I’d update my availability listings multiple times every day. If I can find a way to do that, I certainly will in due course.

Due to a problem with my browser, I’m unable to access the admin port of my website via my iphone which is somewhat unfortunate. If I could, then I could easily change the listings in my car when I’m early for a job (I usually park up on the road if I’m early). Because of this, I would view that page as a way to see whether my schedule fits yours and if there’s a particular day that would work well, if it hasn’t been updated in a day or two.

To earn a respectable living as a piano tuner, one must be willing to travel far and wide – only booking jobs in Leeds, Bradford and Harrogate would be a dead end. One or two days out of the week there will be nothing listed – this is usually because I’ll be booked up in a far away locality such as Scarborough or Whitby, where I get to have an enjoyable day at the seaside in between successive piano tuning. I didn’t used to like travelling, but I’ve learned that putting on some classical music or an audiobook makes such long drives much more bearable. Given that the last job of the day usually begins at 7:30 PM, driving back from Scarborough at 9 PM is a breeze.

Still working safely in Leeds and Bradford under lockdown

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If you’re worried about the legality of booking a piano tuner during lockdown, don’t be. Tradespeople of all types are allowed to continue their work under the new rules. Please see the yorkshire post for more details. This link covers the health and safety guidelines that me and other piano tuners have been asked to follow throughout the pandemic. Common sense isn’t always so common! Sometimes it’s helpful to remind yourself of the best way to stay safe (I need the reminder myself from time to time).

2021 Plans for piano tuning in Leeds

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Come 2021 there will be a slight change in schedule. I’m currently applying for part time retail work in Leeds to supplement my income earned from piano tuning. Piano tuning will be kept as a part time job, with my hours being reduced to 25 a week. I expect to be piano tuning in Leeds and Bradford three days a week (most likely Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday), with my part time job on the weekend, and Mondays and Fridays being for my regular piano tuning customers in South Yorkshire and Derbyshire.

Don’t get me wrong: I will still tune pianos in Bradford and Leeds on a regular basis. It has taken years of toil to become a master of my craft and it would be a shame to waste a hard-earned skill. Unfortunately many of my customers are in the vulnerable category and are understandably cautious about allowing people into their homes for the foreseeable future. The coronavirus vaccine will help, but I’m still expecting a difficult year. For this reason piano tuning is not viable as a full time job – it will have to be part time.

With all this being said, I will still strive to be the best piano tuner I can and to deliver a first rate service to my Leeds and Bradford customers. I didn’t become a piano tuner for money – I like giving the customer a good deal and for them to be happy with how their beloved piano sounds and plays. One of the few positives about the drop in my workload is that I can make more time and do all the work I need on a given day – rather than charging the customer extra for a second visit.

If you want to know more, please drop me a line.

The healing power of A432

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Some good news for the clients whose pianos can’t be tuned to concert pitch (usually due to age and their poor condition) and had to be tuned thirty cents flat; I have left your piano with special healing powers! If you ask Winfried Otto Schumann that is who believed music played at A432 was more in tune with nature (see this article at attunedvibrations).

The gist of the article is that the fundamental resonant frequency of the universe is 8hz, a pitch inaudible to the human ear but is the frequency of much electromagnetic activity on our planet. If a piano’s bass section had more octaves and I were to tune the whole piano starting from an extremely low note which resonated at 8hz, we’d find the A above middle C to be 432hz rather than 440hz (440hz being the agreed upon standard since the early twentieth century), which interacts more harmoniously with the natural world, creating soothing effect on the human mind and body.

Historically the agreed pitch standard of Orchestras has tended to be lower than A440, with the tendency being for the pitch standard to rise over time with efforts to produce brighter and more brilliant sounding music. It was only in the early twentieth century that musicologists decided upon the A440, much to the dismay of singers who found this higher pitch standard vocally straining and other critics.

Perhaps the opponents of A440 were right all along? Speaking from personal experience I’ve found many pianos I’ve tuned sound better at A432 or A435 – although these tend to be pianos from a different era. Modern uprights clearly lose character when they’re too flat of A440.

You decide: