Frequently Asked Questions about Piano Tuning
My piano has not been tuned in YEARS... Can you tune it? - This is
the probably the most commonly asked question. The answer is yes.
However, if a piano has sat unplayed and untuned for many many years and
is horribly out of tune, sometimes a second tuning may be required. This
is because the first tuning is what is known as a "pitch raise" if your
piano has dropped a half step or more. For example, the note C has dropped in
pitch to where it sounds like B or B flat instead. Multiply this across the
entire keyboard and when the tuning process is done, a tremendous amount of
tension has been newly re-applied to the soundboard after the many years since it
was last tuned. Because of this, the pitch will have a natural tendency to drop
again.
Fortunately, most of this actually happens while the piano is
being tuned- and I have acquired techniques that can correct for this which leave
the piano in a more stable state, but still in some severe cases a second tuning
may be required to fully stabilize the piano at the correct pitch.
My goal is always to leave you with a properly tuned piano that will hold
tune the first time I tune it but sometimes this is not possible especially
if a piano has been neglected for an extended period of time.
In the
case of many antique pianos, 50-100 years old, the piano will be tuned to the
pitch it is at because of the risk of breaking strings. If your piano is in
extremely poor condition, meaning that the tuning pins are too loose to hold tune
at all, I will inform you of this issue before fully proceeding with the tuning.
How often do I need to tune my piano?
- In general, if your piano is in good condition, twice a year will
suffice. However, the more and the harder a piano is played, the more frequently
it will need to be tuned. It is actually typical for pianos at conservatories to
be tuned as often as once per month! However, this is the extreme example of
gifted piano students giving their pianos a tremendous workout every day, day
after day. Typical home users don't play their pianos to the extremes that
Julliard students do (6 or 8 hours a day!), so the average is a couple of times a
year.
What causes a piano to go out of tune?
- The most common causes of pianos going out of tune, aside from simply the
passage of time or if the piano has been moved recently, are how hard and how
often the piano is played and to a greater extent, the amount of changes of
humidity and temperature to which the piano is subjected.
Pianos have
a cast iron plate that carries the tension of the strings across the soundboard,
but the sounding board itself is made out of thin wood- usually only about a 1/4
inch thick. Since wood has a tendency to swell when it is humid and to shrink
when the air is dry, this causes the piano's tuning to fluctuate and the sound to
change on rainy days and dry days.
These fluctuations can cause the
piano to go flat and sometimes the piano can actually go sharp as well. The more
stable the temperature and humidity is in your house, the longer your piano will
stay in tune. An electonic humidifier/dehumidifier device can be installed in
your piano that will help control these changes in humidity and make your tunings
last longer.
Do you move pianos? How about repairs and restringing?
- Yes, my assistants and I move spinets, consoles and studio uprights,
first floor to first floor with reasonably easy access (few steps) for $95.00
in the Louisville area. Further distances and more difficult moves require an
additional charge.
We do not move the big antique uprights or baby
grands, and we do not carry pianos out of basements or up to second and third
floors.
The repair work that we do is on
vertical pianos only and includes fixing sticky and sluggish keys, replacement of
jack springs, hammer butt springs, bridle straps, sets of dampers, repairing
broken hammers and other minor to medium general repairs.
What is your training and experience with tuning pianos?
- It has been said that "a piano tuner must have the strength of a
blacksmith and the gentle touch of a surgeon." And in my opinion, above
all, piano tuning is the art of listening.
I might also add that for certain projects, that same quality of
'the blacksmith and the surgeon' is required for picture
framing ...which I have done for over 25 years. The "art of
listening" that I refer to is something that develops over time.
My experience with pianos of all types goes back to my old shop keeping
days when I had my furniture store on
Baxter Avenue for 10 years in the 1990s. It was in those days that I developed my
great fascination and love of pianos, which for me will remain a lifelong passion
and study.
Back in those old store days, I bought and sold over 200
used and antique pianos and before I closed in 2000, I actually had expanded my
piano sales by carrying three lines of new pianos, including the superb quality Schulze
Pollmann acoustic pianos, Viscount digital pianos and General Music's
"RealPiano Pro" digital pianos, both of which at the time were among
the most sophisticated digital pianos on the market.
I started by
tuning my own pianos last year (back in the store days I had a tuner that did
the work for me) and the more pianos I have tuned, I have further and further
developed my ear and listening skills and have done enough now that I am fully
able to tune pianos with professional skill and clarity.
I really enjoy tuning
pianos, it has even helped my own playing because of the enhanced connection to
the instrument itself that one gains in the tuning process. Guitarists have to
tune their guitars every time they play, but pianists seldom ever have that experience!
My specialty is of course vintage pianos, but I tune all makes and models.
Having been around so many pianos, having them tuned- and now tuning
them myself, and having learned about their mechanisms and actions, plus
having spent the past several years with a very serious commitment to advancing
my own playing- through practice and daily study of music theory (I
am self taught as an adult student with that as well) and even in the past couple
of years teaching lessons to others, I have learned a tremendous amount about pianos because of these diverse and unique experiences.
My price for tuning is highly competitve and I am fully committed
to providing you with excellent results for any type of piano that you may
have.
You can see the pianos I tune and some videos of the work that I do
and the comments that people have left for me on my Facebook
Page for Pianos.
Prepaid Tunings can be
purchased securely via Paypal or Credit Card.
Call (502) 442-0585 for
scheduling or if you have any questions.
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