Hilary Strain Piano Tuning Service

I have to say she is the best piano tuning technician I ever have. She’s very very polite, nice, knowledgeable and professional. I just met her this afternoon and I can’t wait to write a review to let other people know how good she is and she is the one you’re looking for. I recently got a second hand piano and it has some problems need to be fixed. The major problem is a sticking key. Hilary is very professional. After I showed her what the problem was, she started to open my piano right away without even asking me what the brand it was. (Almost all the technicians I talked to ask me what brand I have to see if they can fix it.) after fixing the sticking key, she started to check all the rest of the keys, 77keys! Because she wanted to make sure that was not the only problem. Then I asked her if I could vacuum the piano while she’s working on it. She said yes and she took all the keys off the piano so I could vacuum. How nice she is! It took her about one hour to check and fix all the keys and make sure there will be no further problems. She even adjusted a key (my son’s instructor said there was a a problem about the tune.) for free. Anyway, I just love her personality. She’ll be my only piano technician from now on. She’s very reliable and I just trust her. If you have any problem with your piano or you just need a simple tuning, give her a call. She will not let you down and you’ll get more than what you pay for.

Hilary is very professional and excellent at what she does !
Our upright piano was just tuned about 3 months ago by another piano tuner who was highly recommended, the result was sad, the keys were heavier to play, the sustain pedal didn’t work properly and after few weeks I noticed that some keys were making creaking sound and out of tuned :(the piano was so unpleasant.
Luckily I found Hilary from Unilocal,she got many awesome stars ! And Yes those stars are proven to be true. Our piano is sounding better than ever, I am impressed and can’t say thank you enough to her for tuning and fixing our piano. I highly recommend her !

I highly recommend Hilary! She is very experienced, clearly an expert in her field, and very thorough, taking her time to tune to perfection. She is lovely to work with, a delightful personality, and a gifted musician!
I love how the newly tuned piano sounds now, and I look forward to having her back for my next tuning!

I inherited a very old Knabe (1872) grand for 2 years. Gone through several disappointing tuning time with different tuners, Finally I found someone honest and experienced.
After spending sometime with the piano, Hilary told me my piano is still quite in tune. She asked if I want her to regulate it since she still has some spare time. Of course.
It was great after she tuned it.
Definitely will ask her to do the annual tuning.
September 2012: we asked Hilary regulate the piano.
The piano feels so much better.
Hilary keeps working until she achieves her perfectionist standard. Even it was 3 days more than her estimation! She didn’t overcharge us like the general contractors. I am very impressed with her dedication and craftswomanship. Highly recommended !
UPDATE APRIL 2014
Hilary is keep tuning for our old piano. As usual, reliable and clean.

She spent 4 hours on our piano and tuned it three times. It’s a very thorough job. My wife was very pleased when she played the piano last night.

Hilary Strain is the best tuner I have ever had tune my pianos, and I’ve had several pianos over 50 years. She is something of a perfectionist and doesn’t stop until the piano is as good as it can be. I had a B-​flat that had been stuck for several years. Other tuners ignored it, but she kept after it until she unstuck that key and it has stayed unstuck every since. I completely recommend her.

Our piano is just like new again!
Hilary is intelligent and pleasant, we could see that she is a true craftswoman and takes pride in what she does. with attention to detail, she took as long as was needed to complete here work, even though the price was set in advance, and continued until she was satisfied with her work, which was way beyond our own expectations!
We hope she will be available next time we need tuning… Thank you Hilary! :)

Hilary spent just over 3 hours tuning our upright Yamaha. It was very out-​of-​tune, and she said she had rarely ever seen a Yamaha piano so uneven throughout the keys. It has been sparsely played in years and left untuned for longer, so I’m very glad I had her come out. I found her to be amiable, professional, and thorough. Our piano sounds much better, and the keys play and strike down more easily. Will definitely call upon her for tuning in the future.

After we moved from Cincinnati (2007) we were keen to get the Baldwin baby grand tuned up. I saw some good reviews for Hilary Strain on the web and gave her a call. She spent over 2 hrs tuning and charged $ 125. The receipt says she adjusted hammer heights and lubricated the knuckles. She had all the right tools, has a good ear, and was very professional.
My wife says the sound and action is much improved. We will be calling on Hilary regularly.
ADDED: (¹¹⁄₁₀) We’ve called on Hilary again. She took longer than before but same price. Longer means extra care I think. P thinks the piano’s sound is brilliant. (I’ve upped the 4 stars to 5)
Thanks, Hilary!
ADDED 2014: Hilary has been tuning our piano for 6 years. She does a superb job. Today she was here for 4 hours and offered me a bill for $ 125. I paid her three times that. She tuned every string, adjusted every key, vacuumed the keyboard and string board. What’s not to like? She’s getting a degree in Music Composition at Hayward this year.