When regular maintenance such as tuning, regulating, voicing, and cleaning can no longer provide satisfactory performance, a piano may require repair or restoration.

Pianos are a collection of hundreds of moving parts. When these parts stick, jam or break, repair work is needed. Repair work involves replacement or repair of existing parts, keeping the piano in original condition. 

Repair work includes repairing broken action parts such as hammer shanks, butts, wippens, damper levers and flanges, keytops, case parts, ,soundboard cracks, piano casters replacing broken strings, loose tuning pins and cleaning the piano action. 

(Felt wears, strings break, wooden structures weaken and crack, and the exterior finish loses its beauty.) 

Most repair work on newer pianos stems from abuse or poor manufacturing. On older pianos, repair work is more commonly needed, arising from many situations from neglect and abuse to parts failure due to age.

Restoration work involves complete replacement of piano parts. This is the process of rebuilding an old piano with new parts, essentially restoring the piano to its condition when new. 

Not every piano is worth restoration, and the cost of restoration sometimes eclipses the value of the instrument. Careful evaluation of the instrument is needed to see whether the piano is a candidate for restoration, or needs repairs instead, which is usually a cheaper option that results in a perfectly playable instrument.
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