Steve is the best ! No further needs to be said. He is an exceptional in his skillset.

Mr. Benjamin was professional, responsive, and even serenaded us with a mini-concert that proved that the piano was tuned well. Highly recommend. read more

Steve is wonderful -- our piano was beautifully tuned, and we got to hear a beautiful concert of music as he went along. He's a gem!

Quality tuning, and a concert to boot. Deal! Steve was on time, on task and clearly is a master at this.

Had Steven back since he did our first tuning before the pandemic. Same good work. Not only he tuned the piano but fixed some sticky keys during his first visit. I saw a negative review regarding schedule. I think Steven is quite busy and if you happen to call him while he is working it might not be the best time. I had great experience by scheduling via text. In person he is not only very professional but also super nice. read more

Steve was great - he listened to what we were looking for, and came through with a beautiful used piano in our budget. Steve also put new strings in and tuned it up for us. Steve shared about the piano quality and appearance as we communicated via text. He sent us updates and a few videos of him playing for the sound. Steve coordinated the delivery company and the piano was quickly in our home from a trustworthy and friendly moving group. Steve also provided a receipt when I requested it for insurance purposes. We're very happy with the piano and purchase experience. I am enjoying playing it! read more

Benjamins Piano Tuning - 2014 Yamaha U1 Piano - Piano Services Near Me

Called to ask about getting my piano tuned. He sounded super irritated to have to pick up the phone and said "I can save your number but it's not gonna happen soon" Ok sorry to inconvenience you by trying to be a customer. I understand things are strange with the quarantine and corona virus outbreak but this interaction was for weird and unsettling. Oh and my piano still needs tuning read more

Great human being. Master piano tuner. I would not call anyone else. He knows pianos and we have an oldie. He probably should raise his rates but that is not up to me. read more

My piano hasn't sounded so great in years. This tuner is very knowledgeable and tought me many things about my piano's origins and functions. read more

Steve Benjamin rocks! Scheduling via email or phone; shows up on time; works fast and has a great ear. Fixed a voicing problem on my Yamaha that was bugging me for years! Highly recommended. read more

Steve Benjamin is an excellent piano tuner, a nice guy, and a pleasure to work with. He scheduled our appointment on a holiday (he says he works 24/7) and called to confirm the day of the appointment. He is talented, proficient, and his price was quite reasonable. I highly recommend him. read more

If I could give 10 starts - I would! Restoration Piano (Steve Benjamins) is truly the best tuning, maintenance and restorative piano company I have ever used. I have been using this professional company since 1990. The tunings are always spot on. If there is any need for voicing or regulation or repairs - Steve lets you know without pressuring you to an "up-sell". He works within your budget. I have referred him to everyone who asks for "pro all around piano services". It's also nice that a professional who tunes, repairs and restores can actually play the instrument - and play it WELL. YES THATS IMPORTANT. This is hands down the company to use. read more

To the Yelper who said "Steve Benjamin rocks" - ditto. Steve not only did an awesome tuning job on my very out-of-tune player piano, he also has a great network of piano experts for whatever you need. Refinishing, moving, restringing, etc. etc. etc., he has someone available he knows and trusts enough to recommend to his clients. Steve came to my house in the evening after work. It was wonderful because I have a mental block against using vacation time for a chore like piano tuning. His prices are fair, he is very kind and lovely to talk to, and he has a lot of great recommendations for how to best care for a piano and keep it running for many years. Did you know that the great old pianos from the '50s can last for 500 years with proper care? Steve knows. He also knows how to find the value of a piano (brand name and serial number under the lid) and can help sell/buy the right instrument. As an added bonus he is a talented musician and tested my newly-tuned piano with a mini-concert covering Journey, the Beatles, and Beethoven. Wish I played like that. My neighbors wish I did too! read more

I agree with Rebecca R - Have known Steve since the early 90's, every time he tuned my piano, whether it was the original upright or the C7 that he found for me, it was always perfect. Thought of writing this review today, as I need the piano tuned and of course, my next writing will be to him. Posting this WAY later apparently I never finished it :) read more

Steve is my brother. When he was 14, he taught himself to play classical piano by reading all those little black marks on those lines in the piano books. I am proud of that guy... and yes, he is always very kind and thoughtful read more

He was able to get out quicker than expected and took great care of our piano - clearly enjoys what he does!

It's a one-star business as far as I'm concerned. Here's my story. I set up an appointment for 2:00 PM on a certain day. That day I phoned Steve to tell him that I had another appointment at 11:30 AM and that I would phone him if I wasn't going to be home at 2:00; otherwise he was to come at 2:00. I didn't phone him back, because my 11:30 appointment went smoothly. Steve did not show up at 2:00. I phoned at 2:20 and left a message (no one answered the phone) and asked him to call me to let me know when he would be at my house. He phoned back at 2:50 and when I asked him why he didn't show up at 2:00, he said that I told him I would phone him if I was home at 2:00. Sorry, that's not what we agreed. When I told him this, he got upset and said that he would no longer be interested in working on my piano. That is unprofessional behavior on his part. He should understand that instead of getting upset and hanging up on a customer, he should apologize and move on. For a good business person, the customer is always right. read more

There are a lot of excellent recommendations out there for Steve Benjamin. Until the 3rd tuning, I would have highly recommended him. On the first tuning, he fixed a voicing problem in a matter of minutes and I was really impressed by his holistic view of the piano (some tuners would just voice a note or two without looking at the whole picture). He voiced the piano making it more mellow. The second tuning was equally excellent with good voicing. Like others have said he is also an amazing piano player and a very friendly individual. Now for the last tuning... he rushed the job, finishing it in half an hour. I was a bit suspicious but I didn't make a comment at the time. Just days later, one and then several unisons started to go bad. I emailed him with recordings of the offending notes, asking him to come back and address these, and received no response a week later. I sent another email and finally got a one liner reply saying "Will call you when in your neighborhood". From there, several emails, voice mails and text messages later, things went nowhere. He called me once saying he was in the neighborhood, but I was at work and I obviously couldn't make it home on such short advance notice. I am so disappointed that I wasted the money for this botched tuning and will have to pay for another tuner. It doesn't look like to me that he cares about the quality of his work, because if he did, he would have gotten back to me promptly. He didn't even express concern like "I am sorry you are not pleased with the tuning, let me see what I can do". The piano is 2 years old and does keep it's tuning for about 4-5 months. Since there were no major temperature or relative humidity changes in the house, I cannot believe a tuning should go bad this quickly. It actually sounds worse now than it sounded before that 3rd tuning. Howling unisons... woawoawoawoa... ugh. So long, Steve. EDIT: fixed minor typos. read more

Steve Benjamins is the best. Because of him, I am playing my piano much more often and with far greater enjoyment than ever before. (Although, like other reviewers here, I envy his playing skills -- every time he comes to tune, the neighbors perk up like those Viennese listeners in the film Amadeus. :-) He has worked on my small 1960's Wurlitzer piano for years now, and the tone just gets better and better. We are also working together on a separate restoration project on an older grand piano, which will be fantastic when it's done. I can attest that anyone in the Bay Area who is Steve's customer is incredibly lucky. There are few professionals like him, and Lafayette is fortunate to have such a resource. He is also a kind, delightful and trustworthy person to be around and responds to the smallest request with good cheer. He has made my small console piano sound so good, I am completely baffled when I hear other pianos of a similar (or even larger) size sound overly bright and tinny as they often do. Steve knows a ton about pianos but never makes you feel foolish as others can who prefer to show off as experts in their field. His prices are completely reasonable and are a bargain for anyone who cares about music. In sum, thank you Steve, and keep up the great work!!! read more