St. Gabriel Family of Catholic Parishes
Piano Report &
Repair/Service Proposals
Thank you for the opportunity to come to St. Gabriel’s family of parish churches to perform maintenance on the pianos. Especially for the holidays, pianos that sound their best are as important as ever! I am happy to be asked to return this year to provide more service on the pianos.
After tuning each instrument last year, I created documentation of the current condition of the pianos, and have made recommendations as to what work could and should be done to help extend their musical life.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out via email at ron@weilercreativemedia.com, or text me at 248-892-4237, I’ll be happy to work out a plan for your church’s musical needs!
St. Peter’s School Music Room:
Everett Console Piano
This is a typical classroom piano in relatively good condition and is a workhorse for the educational purposes it serves. Annual tuning is the primary recommendation here so that it will continue to hold a tune.
In addition, to tuning, however, the hammers are showing their age and having them voiced would be extremely advantageous to the overall tone of the piano. It has a very bright and almost piercing tone currently. Also, as the instrument is so close to people when it’s played, the harsh tone can be damaging to hearing and the voicing process softens this considerably. This would not be a full and meticulous voicing, as this might be more than needed for a classroom piano, but some time on the hammers would make it more pleasing to the ear as well as to the player.
TUNE - $150
BASIC VOICING - $300
St. John the Baptist Sanctuary:
Kawai KG-3D Grand (SN 56832)
The standard recommendation is always to have a piano tuned annually, though in a “performance” space such as a sanctuary, sometimes semi-annually can be beneficial. This is a wonderful instrument with much life left in it.
The action is showing signs of age, with several hammers out of alignment. For now, I would recommend having some simple corrective alignments done in the action, with possibly something more thorough at a future date, depending on what this process reveals.
TUNE - $150
ALIGNMENT - $100
“The work you did on the piano is exquisite! It’s clear that you fussed over every hammer, and screw, and other parts of the mechanisms for each note. The piano is a dream to play now. The tone is restored to its original beauty, and the keys plays so much smoother now. Truly, your work is admirable. I can’t thank you enough for the care and skill you put into re-voicing, and regulating. A true craftsman! “ - Daniel Greig, Director of Music at St. Mary of the Hills, Rochester Hills, MI
St. John the Baptist Banquet Hall: Cable Spinet (SN: 408127)
This piano is absolutely perfect for the space it is in. There is no need for any major work to be done, though there are a few simple fixes that should be done to prevent deterioration.
There are a fair number of the hammer felts that are separating from the hammers themselves (see photo). Without corrective action, these will fully detach making the piano largely unplayable. While it may be necessary to fully replace these hammers (which can be done at a future date) I would recommend seeing if simply using an appropriate glue and clamping the hammers could delay this need. Also, this piano does have a very harsh tone, and a voicing similar to the classroom at St. Peter’s would be extremely beneficial and appropriate.
TUNE - $150
BASIC VOICING - $300
HAMMER REPAIR - $200
St. Christopher Sanctuary: Knabe Grand (SN: G112012)
This is also a beautiful grand piano, and obviously an asset to the worship experience! There are just a couple of recommendations for this piano to correct some issues:
There is a squeak in the pedals that was partially mitigated upon my last visit, but in order to fully repair this, the action has to be fully removed.
The tone of this piano is also extremely bright, and I highly recommend that while the action is out that a more thorough and meticulous voicing be done on the hammers. This will soften the felt (which has become very compact) and warm and even out the tone. It will maintain the piano’s character, but make the timbre of the instrument much more pleasing to the ear and more rewarding to play.
TUNE - $150
PEDAL REPAIR (ACTION REMOVAL) - $100
FULL VOICING - $450
St. Peter Ferenbach Hall:
Kimball Vertical Piano
There is a frustration with this piano that was communicated by the music staff at the church. After tuning the piano, I can empathize with the frustration (it does not hold a tune very well for long at all). Fortunately, my experience has shown that a process I call “pin setting” can often solve or at least largely mitigate this problem. During this procedure, each tuning pin is set deeper into the tuning block (each pin done individually after determining how loose the pin is before setting) which will give each pin a greater grip and hold much better. This is done along with the tuning process, as setting each pin will knock it out of tune quite a bit.
I would also recommend doing a full voicing on this instrument, as the current tone in the rehearsal space is very bright and piercing and even somewhat painful to hear (which makes the tendency to go out of tune even more of a concern).
Overall, this is actually one of the nicer pianos owned by the family of parishes, and I would recommend prioritizing the work on this one.
PIN SETTING & TUNING - $300
FULL VOICING - $450
St. Christopher Choir Room: Grand Piano (new to WCM)
This piano was not tuned on my previous visit. I will tune and evaluate on site!
TUNE - $150
St. Peter Catholic Church Sanctuary: Yamaha C3 Grand (SN: E4891802)
What a gorgeous instrument! This piano appeared to be in excellent condition. It has a lovely tone, and the action is quiet and solid. Outside of regular tuning, there is no recommended further service for this instrument at this time!
TUNE - $150