Piano Repair Services and Prices
Since 2015, Moonlight Piano Tuning has become a well-renowned Piano Repair Service in Dallas County and Central East Texas. What started out as a hobby turned into a full-fledged business offering the highest quality repairs at affordable prices. Our passion for fixing what’s broken has brought us to the forefront of the repair industry, and our impeccable results have kept us there.
Field Services: Action Improvement and Repair
Pedals are not working properly
$35.00
When your piano's pedals stop working, it limits the music you can play to beginner level finger exercises.
Each of the pedals on your piano helps the pianist alter the tone and enhance their music in a different way. Advanced pianists use all three pedals, and it is only a matter of time before beginners learn their functions.
If a pedal doesn't work, your piano will not function correctly, limiting your ability to play your favorite songs and learn new music.
Lubricate Action
$50.00
Action parts need lubrication when wear and tear causes excess friction, which makes your piano harder to play.
Lubricating action contact points reduces excess friction and makes everything easier to play.
When the moving parts have too much friction, it makes your piano harder to play and distracts your pianist. This often causes them to think 'they are the problem' because they can't get the piano to do what it should easily be able to.
Regulate Damper(s)
$300.00
Your piano's dampers are out of regulation. This means every time you hit a key it feels unpredictable, because it's not engaging precisely when it should.
Dampers have small felts that stop a string's vibration as the pianist lifts their finger off the note. When out of regulation, they are not doing their job and the piano is harder to play.
When the dampers are not regulated, the pianist will need to play some notes harder. This makes it incredibly difficult to play your favorite songs and learn new music.
Concert Level Action Regulation
$1,800.00
When your piano's action is out of regulation, your piano becomes significantly harder to play. The keys are not aligned, and the pianist loses the ability to play softly.
The action is made up of over 7000 moving parts, each timed and adjusted to be easy to play and give the pianist full control of the instrument's dynamic range and tone.
If we do not regulate the action and properly adjust those parts, your pianist will be unable to control the tone or play the piano softly and will have to work 2-3x harder and risk a wrist injury just to get the piano to function.
Hammer Replacement
$1,500.00
Older Hammers can be worn down and hardened over the years. Antique Pianos especially can have bad hammer heads causing the piano to no longer sound pretty. A full replacement involves removing the old heads and having the hammers duplicated and replaced.
Pick up and return
Replace Plastic Action (Parts)
$600.00
In the 1940-60s some pianos were made using plastic parts that didn't hold up over time.
Your piano was built using outdated plastic parts that have become brittle and are now crumbling.
If the failing parts are not replaced, your piano will not work and other parts will continue to break as you play.
Replace Rubber Grommets (Spinet)
$375.00
Some pianos use small rubber connectors called 'grommets' that dry rot as they age.
Rubber parts in your piano are dry-rotted and crumbling, causing notes to stop working correctly and make a lot of excess noise.
If the failing grommets are not replaced, your piano's parts will make more and more noise until, ultimately, they break and notes stop working entirely.
Piano Repair
$75.00/HR
Time and cost will vary depending on the severity of the problem. Cost for parts needed for orders will be added. Please leave in notes what the piano is doing. Final price will be discussed in person before work begins
Tighten All Screws
$50.00
Loose screws cause important parts inside your piano to wobble and shift.
Your piano has thousands of moving parts, many of which are held firmly in place by screws. Vibrations and humidity changes cause these screws to loosen up over time.
Loose screws cause parts to malfunction and prevent the pianist from playing their favorite songs or learning new music.
Replace Bridle Straps/Tapes
$225.00
Small felts called 'Bridle Straps/Tapes' have dry rotted and are no longer functioning.
Numerous bridle straps/tapes inside your piano, each connecting two moving parts together, assist in repetition so the pianist can quickly repeat a note. They also make your piano easier to service, which lowers the cost of future repairs.
When your piano's bridle straps/tapes wear out, it makes your piano harder to play and more difficult to service.
Replace Bridle Straps/Tapes
$225.00
Small felts called 'Bridle Straps/Tapes' have dry rotted and are no longer functioning.
Numerous bridle straps/tapes inside your piano, each connecting two moving parts together, assist in repetition so the pianist can quickly repeat a note. They also make your piano easier to service, which lowers the cost of future repairs.
When your piano's bridle straps/tapes wear out, it makes your piano harder to play and more difficult to service.
Regulate Back Action (Grand)
$400.00
When your piano's back action is out of regulation, the pianist loses the ability to play softly.
The back action supports the piano's dampers and is timed to engage all the parts at just the right moment. If the parts engage too early (or late), some notes become too difficult to play softly, while others ring far too long, making the piano difficult to play.
When your back action is not regulated, the pianist will need to play some notes harder than others. This makes it incredibly difficult to play your favorite songs and learn new music.
Replace Plastic Elbows (Spinet)
$450.00
In the 1940-60s some pianos were made using plastic parts that didn't hold up over time.
Your piano was built using outdated plastic parts that have become brittle and are now crumbling.
If the failing parts are not replaced, your piano will not work and other parts will continue to break as you play.
Replace Action Brackets
$900.00
Defective action brackets were installed in some pianos from 1990 into the early 2000s.
Your piano was built using some defective parts; as the alloys react with the air, the parts expand and eventually break. They now need to be replaced.
If you don't replace the action brackets, the action in your piano will become stuck, making it impossible to service and make simple repairs.
Field Service: Keys, Keybed And Key Frame Repair
Keys are sticking
$35.00
When a key stops working, it affects your ability to enjoy your piano.
The keys engage over 7000 moving parts inside your piano to make music. The slightest wear or damage to any of these parts can cause a note to stop working.
When a note isn't working, it takes away the ability to play some of your favorite songs and limits your ability to learn new music.
Adjust Key Dip
$185.00
A piano with inconsistent key dip is difficult to play because the keys are out of adjustment.
Key dip measures how far the pianist can depress each key before it bottoms out. By the time a key is fully depressed, the hammer has hit the string and all the moving parts have been engaged. As the piano's parts wear, the key dip becomes more inconsistent from note to note.
If you don't adjust your piano key dip, the parts become misaligned and your piano becomes increasingly difficult to play. The key dip being off causes the pianist to learn new songs incorrectly, and eventually you will find they just stop playing because it isn't fun anymore.
Miscellaneous Key Repair
$75.00
Miscellaneous key repair to improve function of the keys and prevent additional damage.
Full White Keytop Replacement (Pickup)
$850.00
Sometimes keytops are too old or damaged and need to be replaced.
Every key on your piano has a keytop to protect the underlying wood. Black keys are usually ebony, and the white are plastic or ivory. Eventually these key coverings become so worn they need to be replaced.
If we don't replace your keytops, the exposed wood in the keys will deteriorate faster and your pianist will have the same problem they had getting keys to play before the rebuild.
Level Keys
$300.00
An unlevel keyboard makes your piano harder to play and causes the pianist to hit wrong notes.
A level keyboard helps the pianist know exactly where to place their fingers without looking at the keyboard.
Practicing on a piano with an unlevel keyboard wastes time, causing you to learn incorrectly and constantly make mistakes that are not really your fault. It prevents you from memorizing correct key level/placement and slows you down as you try to learn new music.
Replace Worn Punchings
$900.00
A piano with old worn out punchings is harder to play and is a hindrance to the musician.
Punchings are very thin cloth and paper spacers that hold the keys at just the right height and allow them to stop once the pianist has fully depressed the notes.
As these punchings deteriorate, your piano becomes increasingly difficult to play and eventually you will just stop playing because it isn't fun anymore.
Repair/Replace Keytop
$75.00
Chipped or missing keytops are unsightly, and they hurt when they have sharp edges.
Most keytops are made of plastic, wood, or antique ivory that deteriorates over time. The harder surface of the keytop protects the soft underlying wood from eroding.
Allowing the keys soft wood to be exposed causes irreversible damage and makes your piano more difficult to play.
Field Service: Strings, Dampers, & Pedal Repair
Broken Treble String
$55.00
Broken strings happen, and when they do your piano stops working.
When a string breaks on a note, you often need to replace all the strings for that specific note. Most notes have 3 strings each and while only one might break at a time, replacing all 3 at the same time is necessary when the condition of the original strings is too far deteriorated.
If broken strings are never replaced, you end up with a piano that cannot be tuned because the broken strings are unable to sound. The Technician is not responsible for any string that may break during a tuning.
Replace Damper Felt(s)
$825.00
When damper felts get old, certain notes stop working and continue ringing long after they are supposed to stop.
When the pianist lifts their finger off a note, a small felt damper applies pressure on the string to stop it from vibrating.
If you don't replace these felts, they become crusty and hard, causing unwanted noise every time you play your piano. The tone will also be impossible to control, and you will not be able to enjoy your favorite songs.
Regulate Sustain Pedal
$25.00
When the sustain pedal isn't working, the only music you can play is beginner level finger exercises.
The sustain pedal is the most used pedal. When it doesn't work, the dampers cannot universally be lifted off the strings.
if this pedal isn't regulated, your piano will not function correctly, limiting your ability to play your favorite songs and learn new music.
Broken Bass String
$125.00
Bass strings are special made and will need to be ordered to fit piano. This process may take more than one visit.
Broken strings that occur in the bass or low tenor of your piano are custom made, wound strings with additional mass to help create the deeper tones. Because of this added mass, they need to be custom ordered and duplicated by a string supplier.
If the broken strings are never replaced, your piano cannot be tuned because the broken strings are unable to sound.
Twist All Bass Strings
$275.00
Old bass strings lose their ability to produce good tone.
You can bring life back into a set of dead bass strings by adding a slight twist to each string.
If you don't twist old bass strings, they will continue to become more dull and 'thuddy' until, eventually, they no longer produce tone at all.
Miscellaneous
Shape & Voice Heavily Worn Hammers
$275.00
Eventually the voicing in your piano deteriorates, notes stop sounding the way they should, and tone becomes worse over time.
Voicing has a lot to do with the shape of your hammer felts. Every note in your piano has a small, felt-covered hammer that needs to be voiced and shaped as the parts wear. Over time the strings cut through the outer layers of felt, causing the voicing and tone to deteriorate.
Once the strings cut through the outer layer of felt, it becomes exceedingly difficult for the pianist to control the tone and accelerates how quickly other action parts in your piano deteriorate.
Repair Broken Bench/Stool
$75.00
When your piano bench/stool isn't sturdy, it means it is about to break.
Repairing a bench/stool is an important, and often overlooked, part of piano service. Having a sturdy bench at the correct height helps reduce pain in the pianist's back and wrists that causes repetitive motion injuries.
A wobbly, malfunctioning bench is going to cause problems down the road. It is either going to break, distract you/your pianist with unwanted noise, or cause irreparable damage to their body.
Piano Life Saver System & Installation
$550.00 Upright
$675.00 Grand
$750.00 Concert Grand
Life saver systems counterbalance changes in humidity that destroy wooden instruments like your piano.
A piano life saver system is a full humidity control system that keeps the wood at a constant humidity despite changes in the room around it.
If you don't install a piano life saver system, seasonal changes in humidity will quietly destroy your piano, and it will not stay in tune.
Replace Case Parts
$75.00
Occasionally a case part goes missing or is damaged beyond repair.
Sourcing new case parts to repair damage can be challenging, especially if the factory is overseas or out of business. In some cases, manufacturing a replica is the only option.
If you don't replace missing case parts (especially the music desk), your music will not stay in place and additional damage will occur to neighboring parts.
