Tuning

As a serious piano tuner/technician, one is a member of the Vereniging voor Pianostemmers Nederland (VvPN). In this way, one stays current with what is happening in the profession. In 1995, I passed the tuning test with good results and was from then on a Certified Piano Tuner (CPT).

I usually take on the average 1,5 hours to tune your piano and to make it a joy to play. The half-yearly rate is € 100.00 including 21% VAT and travel costs. If it is more than a year ago, you will pay € 105.00 including 21% VAT and travel costs. You are not required to have a subscription; we make appointments as you request. I tune pianos in the area of South Holland.

Michael Sipman, technical coordinator of the Rotterdamse Schouwburg

Jos de Ling has taken care of the pianos in the Rotterdamse Schouwburg for years. His work is always carried out punctually, in tuning as well as in agreements. Our pianists are always pleased with his work. He also reconditioned our Steinway grand piano and it has been in mint condition ever since.

Baby Dee (restoration Steinway grand)

My manager Richard Guy rescued a 1910 (1911?) Hamburg Steinway Grand piano from a music school in Coventry that was closing. They were actually going to throw it out. It had been donated to the school years ago and never used. Rich found it on it's side, leaned up against a wall. The piano was a mess, barely playable. But it was a Steinway and I had played some wonderful Steinways of the exact same vintage so I was hopeful.

I was not sure how to go about it. I have been a Steinway loyalist all my life but even good companies have their bad periods and I didn't want to pay an ungodly amount of money to have the piano restored by Steinway at a point when Steinway is making/selling/promo-finessing second-rate pianos and naming them after unfriendly cities.

So I asked the best piano player I knew in Holland, Reiner van Houdt, for a recommendation and he told me that he'd played on old Steinways that had been rebuilt by Jos and that they were terrific and that was good enough for me.

And Reinier was not wrong. I've played a lot of good pianos and my Hamburg Steinway sounds and feels every bit as great as those few early Twentieth Century Steinways that I fell in love with when I was 18.

Marie Louise Oosterloo

I met Jos years ago when he came to tune my piano. He did this better than the previous tuner and that gave me confidence in his work. He comes on time to his appointments and when he is delayed, he lets me know in a timely fashion. He is always interested in the state of the instrument and always tunes it to my satisfaction. When I got a 1973 Pleyel grand piano, he reconditioned it beautifully with great professional skill. I played with pleasure on this well functioning piano, which had a well-balanced touch. However, this piano did not produce the ideal tone I sought. Each time Jos came to tune it, I tried to explain to him what I missed and he would set to work again to reach that ideal. And so he gradually came to understand what sort of piano I sought.

After several years, when Jos came to tune my piano, he was elated to report that he had a 1926 Gaveau that might be of interest to me. In consultation with me, he restored this grand piano exactly to my wishes. When it was finished, I could – without obligation – try it out. Immediately, I knew that this was my instrument. Never before had I heard such a beautiful, warm tone, so full of character. It was precisely what I wanted. The wooden case was beautifully restored and the inside was reconditioned with attention to detail and the preservation of the characteristic elements of this vanishing grand piano make. It was “love at first sound”.

Jos takes good care of my Gaveau. Despite the fact that it is an “old timer,” it plays like new but with a characteristic tone color that new instruments have lost. This old lady is so well restored that she takes less maintenance than did the grand piano from 1973. With two good professional tuning sessions per year, the Gaveau produces exactly what I desire from a grand piano.