Koing and Meyer 166/1 Piano Tuning Hammer

As a novice i was unsure how easy it would be to use. I liked the fact it as 6.2mm whereas a lot of other hammers seem to be 6.5mm. I would say this can make a difference when tuning 6mm pins (mine was an old upright piano). It is also quite long making it easier to make small movements which is very important when tuning a piano (as i found out).

This is a superb tool for slackening off or tightening up piano wires when tuning or, in my case, demolishing a piano. Our Victorian piano had become hopelessly distorted by the effects of central heating and was worthless. I first needed to slacken off the piano wires since they are made from spring steel and are under tremendous tension. If you cut through them whilst they are under tension, there is a serious risk of injury such as losing an eye or slicing open a jugular.The square adapter fitted perfectly onto the tapered square pins in the piano and slackened off every wire without any slips. I could not have done the job safely without it and I recommend anyone facing a similar task or tuning their piano to get one. I have a large range of hand tools and this job required this special tool. If anyone tries to do the job using conventional spanners or sockets they will take forever, may injure themselves and may damage the heads on the pins such that no tool can grip them.

Seems nice quality, unfortunately it turns out that my piano has slightly tapered old English (Broadwood) patent tuning pins, so this square-fit tuning hammer doesn't suit. There was no problem with getting a refund though so you can order with confidence, meanwhile I am searching for a tuning hammer which suits.... hard to find, it seems! Only rated four-star because it didn't suit my needs, not the suppliers fault! Otherwise would have been five.Recommended for both quality and service.

Arguably I could rate this tool as 5 stars for being exactly what you'd expect for the price but then it wouldn't get noticed by people like me. On my old Hopkinson upright piano with 6mm pins, even the best fit was sloppy but on the lower pins, the hammer socket gave and locked onto the pin. Fortunately, I got it loose with only cosmetic damage but it could easily have exceeded the cost of the tool many times over.I'm counting this as a valuable lesson and hopefully others will learn from my experience. I realise that the tool might be perfectly fine on other instruments but buyer beware.

The tool is long enough to give a good purchase on the tuning pegs.

It is not easy to turn an old grand piano into a bookcase - and the first problem was removing all the strings - which cannot be done without the proper tool. Thought it was a bit expensive, but it is top quality and worth every penny. I might even try tuning a piano.

Purchased the K&M tuning hammer to tune the odd note that slipped after having it tuned professionally. Our piano is a 30's or 40's mini upright which we purchased from Oxfam for about £50. The tuning hammer is a success although I think a full piano tuning should be left to a professional. Armed with this tool I'd be confident to attempt the odd slipped note. The K&M much better than the cheap one I bought off ebay which was to big to catch the tuning pins.

Arrived quickly and fits the square pegs on my upright piano just fine. With this, a piano tuning mute kit and with the help of the Easy Piano Tuner smartphone app I've successfully tuned my piano by myself for the first time, and a lot cheaper than a piano tuner. However, with over 200 strings to tune it took up more than a few evenings!