Blüthner & Steinway-certified technicians · Dubai, since 2012
Piano Repair & Restoration in Dubai
House of Pianos repairs, reconditions, restores and refinishes acoustic pianos across the UAE — from a single sticking key to a full rebuild with new strings, pinblock and hammers — in our own Dubai workshop, by technicians trained and certified by Blüthner and Steinway & Sons.
Start here
Tell us what it is doing
Nobody wakes up wanting “regulation”. They wake up to a key that sticks. Find the symptom below — it tells you what is probably wrong and what it takes to put right.
A note doesn't sound at all
Usually a snapped string, a broken hammer shank, or a jack that has slipped out of position. Often a same-visit fix in the home.
Keys stick, or the touch is uneven
Humidity swells the felt bushings the keys pivot on. Regulation resets the geometry so all 88 notes respond the same way.
A pedal does nothing, or squeaks
Almost always the linkage under the keybed rather than the pedal itself. Quick to diagnose, quick to correct.
Buzzing, rattling or a metallic ring
This ranges from a loose hinge to a rib coming away from the soundboard. The difference matters, so we listen in person.
It will not hold its tune any more
When the pins no longer grip the block, tuning becomes a temporary fix. This is the point where repair turns into restoration.
The tone is harsh, thin or dull
Hammers compact and groove with use. Reshaping and voicing recovers warmth without touching the tuning.
The case is scratched, faded or chipped
Cosmetic work is its own discipline. We refinish in the original colour, or repaint the instrument in a colour you choose.
Keytops are yellowed or chipped
Keytops are replaced as a set so that colour and height match, and the keyboard is then levelled again.
It has been in storage, or has just arrived
An instrument that has crossed climates or sat unplayed should be inspected before it is played hard, not after.
The honest ladder
Repair, recondition, restore, refinish
These four words get used interchangeably in this market, and the difference between them is thousands of dirhams. Here is what each one actually means.
| Level | What it covers | Right when | What you get back |
|---|---|---|---|
| Repair | Targeted work — a broken string, a handful of action parts, pedal and trapwork, and regulation of the section affected. | The instrument is fundamentally sound and one specific thing has gone wrong. | The fault gone, and nothing else disturbed. |
| Reconditioning | Hammer reshaping or replacement, keytop work, deep cleaning, full regulation, voicing and tuning — without replacing the structural core. | A good piano that has aged rather than failed, and no longer plays as it should. | Even touch, recovered tone, a piano that feels looked after. |
| Restoration | Restringing, a new pinblock, bridge repair, soundboard work, new hammers and action components, then complete regulation and voicing. | The pins no longer hold, the soundboard has lost its crown, or the action is past adjustment. | A rebuilt instrument, with decades of playing life ahead of it. |
| Refinishing | The case stripped and refinished in its original colour, or repainted in a colour you choose; hardware re-plated or replaced. | The piano plays well but does not look it — or you want it to look like something else entirely. | The instrument you already own, presenting like new. |
We will tell you when not to
Not every piano is worth restoring. A mass-produced instrument with a cracked soundboard and a failed pinblock can cost more to rebuild than a better piano costs to buy, and no amount of work will make it sound like something it never was.
When that is the case we say so, in writing, and show you the arithmetic. We would rather lose the job than sell you a rebuild you will regret. Where the instrument has family history and the decision is not a financial one, we will say that too — and do the work properly.
How it works
Nothing is opened up before you approve it
Tell us what it does
A short description and a few photographs by WhatsApp or through the form below. Sound clips help more than you would think.
Assessment
A technician inspects the instrument — at your home, or in our Dubai workshop if it needs the bench.
A written report
What is wrong, what we recommend, what we would deliberately leave alone, and what it costs.
Your decision
You approve the scope before any work begins. If we find something further in, we stop and ask.
Work, then settling
On site or on the bench. Every instrument is tuned again after it returns and has settled in the room.
Who does the work
Our own technicians, our own workshop
Repair work is not subcontracted. It is done by the same team that prepares, voices and regulates every instrument House of Pianos sells, in the workshop we have run in Dubai since 2012.
That matters more here than it does elsewhere. A technician who only ever sees a piano for an hour at a time never learns what the Gulf climate does to an instrument over ten years. Ours see the same pianos come back, year after year.
- CertifiedTechnicians trained and certified by Blüthner and Steinway & Sons
- AuthorisedSteinway & Sons (New York and Hamburg), Boston, Essex, Blüthner, Haessler, Irmler and Kurzweil
- In-houseA full workshop in Dubai — bench work, restringing, action rebuilding and refinishing under one roof
- ReferredThe Centre for Musical Arts sends its instrument-repair enquiries to House of Pianos
- TrustedPianos in more than 200 schools and institutions across the UAE are under our care
Why the Gulf is different
Air conditioning is harder on a piano than heat is
A piano is roughly ten thousand parts of wood, felt and steel held in balance by tension and humidity. Move the humidity and everything moves with it.
In the Emirates the instrument lives between two extremes: coastal air outside, and dry conditioned air indoors. The soundboard expands and contracts, felt bushings swell and shrink, and construction dust finds its way into an action that was never designed to meet it.
This is why faults here look different. Sticking keys in a Dubai villa are usually a humidity problem rather than a wear problem — and treating them as wear is how a small job becomes a large one.
A note on prices
We do not quote repairs from a photograph. Two pianos with the same symptom can need an hour of work or a month of it, and any firm that gives you a number before opening the instrument is guessing with your money. You get a written figure after the assessment, and it does not move without your approval.
Refinishing & repainting
The piano as a design object
Refinishing is where repair meets specification. We strip and refinish cases in their original colour for owners who want back the instrument they know — and we repaint pianos to a specified colour for interior designers, hotels and private clients who want it to become something else entirely.
For owners
Sun-faded lacquer, scratched lids, chipped edges, water marks and worn hardware. The case is stripped and refinished in its original colour, and the hardware re-plated or replaced so the whole instrument reads as one piece again.
polyester · lacquer · hand polish · hardware re-platingFor designers & specifiers
A piano is often the largest object in a room and the one nobody thought to specify. We match a case to a scheme from a swatch, a RAL reference or a material sample — high gloss, satin, metallic or a custom colour — with hardware finished to suit.
colour matching · high gloss · satin · metallic · brass or chromeInside the case
Cleaning a piano is not dusting a piano
Pianos collect dust like any other fine furniture, but they cannot be cleaned like it. Solvents that are safe on a cabinet will lift lacquer, a cloth in the wrong place will bend a damper wire, and the parts that most need cleaning — the action, the soundboard, the underside of the strings — are the parts you cannot reach without removing them.
We clean the case, the plate, the soundboard and the action separately, with the tools and solvents each surface takes. The instrument sounds fuller afterwards because the soundboard is free to speak again, and it lasts longer because dust holds moisture against felt and steel.
From the workshop
Sixteen instruments through our hands
Repairs, rebuilds and refinishing carried out in our Dubai workshop. Click any image to open it full size.
Questions
Before you ask us
How much does piano repair cost in Dubai?
It depends entirely on what is wrong, and we will not pretend otherwise. A broken string or a sticking key is a modest job that is often done in a single visit. A full restoration — new pinblock, restringing, new hammers and action parts — is a project measured in months. You get a written figure after a technician has assessed the instrument, and that figure does not change without your approval.
Do you come to the house, or does the piano come to you?
Both. Tuning, regulation, most action faults, pedal and trapwork problems and cleaning are done in the home. Restringing, pinblock and soundboard work, action rebuilding and any refinishing happen in our Dubai workshop, and we handle the move in both directions.
Is my piano worth restoring?
That is exactly what an assessment answers. The honest test is whether the instrument’s musical ceiling justifies the work: restoring a fine German or American grand almost always makes sense, while rebuilding a mass-produced upright with a failed pinblock rarely does. We will show you the arithmetic and tell you plainly if we think the answer is no.
Can you repaint my piano a different colour?
Yes. We strip and refinish cases in their original colour, and we repaint instruments in colours our clients choose — including high-gloss finishes and custom colours matched to an interior scheme. Hardware is re-plated or replaced at the same time so the whole instrument reads as one piece.
Do you repair pianos you did not sell?
Yes. Most of the instruments that come through our workshop were bought elsewhere, including from other dealers and from abroad. We are authorised for seven marques but we work on any acoustic piano.
Which emirates do you cover?
All seven. Our technicians work across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain, and we service instruments in more than 200 schools and institutions nationwide.
My piano will not hold its tune. Is that a tuning problem or a repair problem?
If it drifts within a few weeks of a tuning, it is usually a repair problem. The most common cause is tuning pins that no longer grip the pinblock, which no amount of tuning will fix — the block has to be replaced. Rapid humidity change is the other common cause, and that one is solvable without major work.
How long will my piano be away?
Home visits are same-day. Bench work depends entirely on the scope and on parts, some of which are ordered from Europe. We confirm a schedule in writing together with the quotation, before the instrument leaves the house.
Enquire
Tell us what it is doing
Photographs and a short description are enough to start. A technician reads every enquiry — this is not a call-centre queue.
- Email[email protected]
- WhatsApp+971 52 443 4137 — photographs and short sound clips welcome
- WorkshopDubai — visits by appointment
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