Matthew James Richards - Piano Tuner & Repair Technician Wolverhampton

Training at the royal national college in Hereford, winning the Mcgreggers prize and becoming a certified Piano Tuner Technician for the two leading associations in the UK, I tune to a professional standard whatever the situation. Tuning services I offer includes pitch raising, and fine tuning

I carry out a variety of repair work including on site repairs (such as sticking keys, broken hammer shanks, string replacement etc). For more demanding repair work i can rebuild the Piano action in my workshop. Repair work includes: String replacement Action part replacement, such as hammer shanks, flanges, dampers and other wooden and moving parts Action felt replacement Center pin replacement Key bushing replacement and easing Key top covering replacement Pedal repairs

I offer a cleaning service for both Upright and Grand Pianos. The service includes soundboard cleaning, removal of keys to gain access to the keybed (this is where decades of dust and objects can be found), and action cleaning.

The regulating service I offer ensures that your Piano performs at its best. Regulation is an important process as for the Piano to produce an even playability, execute dynamics, and function correctly. Regulating includes dampers and touch, key leveling, dip and hammer spacing. Loss motion, check, and set off ajustments.

Matthew first became interested in music at the early age of 3 years listening to his dad’s music centre and cassette recorder. He began classical piano lessons at the age of 5 and went on to achieve Grade 8 while still at school. Meanwhile at the age of 8 he began to learn to play the violin and he went on to play this instrument with the Wolverhampton Youth Orchestra. He is also blessed with the rare auditory phenomenon of ‘perfect pitch’. Matthew became interested in playing the ukulele when he came across a 78rpm record of George Formby ‘Why Don’t Women Like Me’. He played it on a wind up gramophone. He has been a collector of 78rpm records and phonograph cylinders since he was 11 years old. He joined forces with his friend Matthew Francis and at the age of 15 they taught themselves to play the banjo ukuleles that they had bought. They joined the Stourbridge branch of the George Formby Society and began performing as the ‘Two Matts’ in Residential homes and at fetes etc. At this time Matthew was also composing and arranging music for his school orchestra. In 2004 he started college in Hereford completing a Music technology Course with Piano Tuning, Musical Performance and Classical Piano Diploma. Around this time he developed his solo act with the ukulele and piano but continued to travel back to Wolverhampton at weekends to continue ‘gigging’ at residential homes. After college he started his own business as a Piano Tuner and also plays piano and the ukulele across the UK. He considers himself fortunate to be making a living with music. In 2010 he became Musical Director of The George Formby Society.

Absolutely fantastic! A very professional service and my historic piano has been brought back to life. Matthew, it was a pleasure to meet you

I could not fault Matthew on his work, he arrived on time, was lovely to speak to and showed me what he was doing with each part of the piano as I was interested. When he was finished my piano sounded better than I'd remembered... His price was surprisingly reasonable, and he clearly knows his stuff and was so enthusiastic about it! Will definitely have him back in a few months, would highly recommend.

Thankyou so much!

Brilliant piano tuner and performer. Lovely person with an admirable passion for his work. In addition to tuning he does maintenance and he valued and identified origin of my piano too. Can't recommend highly enough.

Matthew is brilliant. Very professional and thorough. Have used him for years and he always does a great job with a smile on his face. To hear our piano played by him afterwards is such a treat - so talented. Would definitely recommend.

Thank you Matthew for retuning my piano today, and repairing a spring etc.. I actually cried playing it after you had gone, it now sings like a dream and I'm Loving it. You would never know it is 96 years old. Thank you so much

Matthew has tuned my daughters piano with great enthusiasm, providing information on the pianos history to the best of his knowledge and restored one of the keys functionality all of which was included in the price. A very pleasant and professional individual, would definitely recommend his services.

Matthew tuned our piano today. Learnt lots about its history too!
Friendly, professional service. Can definitely recommend

Matthew came and tuned our piano yesterday and did an excellent job. It hadnt been tuned in a long time (also had sticking keys). He was friendly, knowledgeable and took a lot of care with it. Piano now sounds amazing! Ill definitely be in touch for its next tuning in the future- thank you for making it playable again!

Matthew carried out a pitch raise to our Piano that had not been turned for many years. It was important to be at pitch as our daughter is starting her grade exams. I couldn't be more happier with the result!