Austin Grimes Piano Servicing & Tuning

Great experience! Austin came out right on time and tuned my piano to perfection. There were a lot of problems with it and it’s not the easiest style of piano to tune. He went right to it and did a great job. He even gave me tips on how find the metal screws for the music holder and how to fix my piano bench. Excellent job by an excellent person. I’m giving him 5 stars without any question.

Mr. Grimes is honest, kind and attentive. Not only did he give me good advice about a piano (when, in fact, if he hadn’t, he would have made more money!), he has since reworked and now regularly attends to my Steinway. This piano is the very Steinway that my great-​grandfather gave to my grandmother on her 16^th birthday. This is no light matter! I trust him greatly and would recommend him to anyone, professional pianist or not.

Not only does Mr. Grimes have a name so literary it’s worthy of a character in a novel, he is a phenomenally skilled tuner and, really, piano technician (for those not in the know, these guys have waaay more on their resumes). I heard of him through a friend who raved about him back in 2002 or something, and I have used his services exclusively ever since.
So what makes a piano tuner great? Well, they have to understand what a pianist wants– they have to *get* what a pianist tells them, and know how to fix it– so if I say, «ya know, this F sharp has developed a rattle and it only happens when I do this,» or «the action on the bass isn’t as quick as I’d like it,» or «can you make the treble have more of a bell-​like tone?» my tuner needs to be able to make this happen. Mr. Grimes CAN and does, consistently.
Ideally, I want my tuner to have a good sense of pitch, and be a musician at heart. Happily, Mr. Grimes fits this bill, too. The only thing more enjoyable than hearing him run through some jazz riffs at my piano after he’s tuned it is getting to sit down and play my favorite Chopin pieces myself as soon as he’s done.