Expert piano tuning and repair

Emporia, Kansas and surrounding communities

About

Steve Moss has been building, servicing, and repairing musical instruments since 1995. He began his career in the harp industry, working in final assembly, regulation, and quality control at the Lyon & Healy harp factory in Chicago, Illinois. In the early 2000's, he built his own business traveling to service and repair harps for clients across the United States. He also developed an interest in piano service, and completed a course with the Randy Potter School of Piano Technology. He now divides his time between travel to serve out of state harpists, universities, and symphony orchestras, and servicing pianos closer to home in Emporia and surrounding communities.

Steve graduated from Yale University with a degree in music theory and history, plays the guitar, fiddle, and banjo, and is active in traditional and bluegrass music circles. He is a twenty year associate member of the Piano Technicians Guild, and serves on the board of directors of the American Harp Society. His wife is an assistant professor at Emporia State University, and he has two adult daughters who are pursuing their educations in Kansas and Missouri.

Head shot of Steve Moss, owner of Andante Piano Service
Photo by Thomas Felts

Service Area

We service pianos throughout Lyon, Osage, Coffey, Greenwood, Chase, Morris, Geary, Riley, and Waubunsee Counties.

closeup of piano keyboard outside on a cold day
display of nine county territory serviced by Andante Piano Service

Prices

  • Lyon County
    • $120.00
  • Chase, Coffey, Geary, Greenwood, Morris, Osage, Waubunsee Counties
    • $145.00
  • Riley County
    • $155.00

  • $75.00

Pitch adjustments are required on most pianos which have not been tuned in over a year. For more information, see the FAQ section below.

Note: If you are having your piano tuned, an thorough inspection of the instrument is included. This option is for customers who are considering buying or acquiring a piano and would like to have it inspected prior to making a decision. No tuning or repair is included in this option.

  • Lyon County
    • $95.00
  • Chase, Coffey, Geary, Greenwood, Morris, Osage, Waubunsee Counties
    • $115.00
  • Riley County
    • $125.00

Piano problems can have a wide variety of causes, so repair prices vary. We can provide a repair estimate after assessing the situation.

  • $50.00

An amazing amount of dust and clutter can build up inside a piano. Let us vacuum out the interior areas for you. We also have special tools to clean dust off grand piano soundboards.

Cleaning is offered as an add-on service to a piano we are already servicing. It is not available as a stand-alone service.

Note: Extremely dirty pianos, especially those with signs of rodent infestation, will be more expensive to clean.

The State of Kansas requires that sales tax be collected on piano tunings and other services, as well as replacement parts. Sales tax rates vary by county, and are generally between 7.5% and 9.5% withing our service area.

Non-profit organizations with tax exempt status, such as schools, universities, and churches, are exempt from tax, but the state requires us to collect copies of Sales Tax Exemption Certificates in our tax filings. Please provide a copy of your organization's certificate in advance or with payment, in hard copy or by email.

We accept the following payment methods:

  • Cash
  • Personal or company checks
  • All major credit cards
photo of piano tuner at work

FAQ

To keep it sounding and playing its best, a piano should be tuned every 6 to 12 months. Pianos which are heavily used, such as those in school practice rooms and teaching studios should be tuned more often.

A standard piano tuning can only be done on a piano that is very near or at standard concert pitch (A4 = 440 Hz). If a piano is not tuned regularly, its overall pitch will drop below standard pitch and will require additional work before fine tuning. During a pitch adjustment pass, the tuner tunes each string slightly higher than concert pitch, to an amount calculated so that the piano will settle out at concert pitch when the pass is complete. At that point a successful fine tuning can be completed.

Yes! Pianos have hundreds of moving parts, and as a result lots of things can go wrong, from keys that stick or don't play, to unwanted buzzes and vibrations, to broken strings. When you request service, please give us as much detail as you can about anything that isn't working correctly on your piano.

Yes! Pianos benefit from a variety of maintenance procedures besides tuning, which can enhance the tone and playability of the instrument. Two common procedures are:

  • Hammer shaping: reshaping the point where the hammers contact the strings for optimal curvature and sound quality.
  • Voicing: working the hammer felt with needles or chemical treatments to improve tone quality and volume.
  • Regulation: adjusting the mechanical parts between the keys and strings to maximize the piano's responsiveness.

Pianos -- even small ones -- are bulky and hard to move, so it's hard to know what to do with one you don't want anymore. In addition, people hate throwing away musical instruments. It seems like a waste. There must be someone out there who needs a piano, right? So lots of people offer free pianos to those who can come and get them. But a free piano isn't really free.

It costs money to move it to your house. Having sat unused for probably years, it's going to need at least a pitch adjustment and tuning, and would probably benefit from regulation and other maintenance as well. In some cases, old pianos have major problems, such as a cracked pin block, cracked bridges, or a damaged plate, that can render them unusable. So it's worth knowing what condition it's in before agreeing to take it off someone's hands.

We can inspect a prospective piano for you and let you know how much work it would need to be usable, and if there are any major issues that would be prohibitively expensive to repair.

photo of tuning fork sitting on top of piano keyboard

Request Service

Please complete and submit the form below to request service for your piano.

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Contact

Contact us using the form above

Or by phone at
620-487-2421

© 2025 Andante Piano Service