Why Tune Your Piano

Copyright (c) 2010 Wayne Paddison

Pianos are tuned regularly, usually once every six months for domestic pianos, and always just before a performance in auditorium. If a piano has been left a long period, more effort and time will be required for a piano technician to restore it to correct pitch and action.

1.If a piano is even slightly out of tune, it will lose its tonal quality. Strings slightly out of piano tune with one another have weaker sympathetic vibrations. Pianos that completely out of tune are unpleasant to play and listen to. A tuning hammer is a primary tool used by the piano technician.

2.Pianos go out of tune primarily because of changes in humidity. Piano Tuner is more stable when humidity is regulated, inside or underneath the piano. Piano Technicians tell us there is no permanently harm if the piano is not in tune.

3.However, a long-term low-humidity environment may eventually crack the soundboard and warp keys and other wooden parts. In particular, pianos located in arid climates and otherwise very dry rooms (for example, a cold climate with an extended heating season) require special attention to humidity control.

4.Piano Technicians can tune pianos to non-standard tunings, in order to achieve different kinds of harmony not possible with the standard 12-tone equal temperament tuning (normally found on the piano). Examples of such persons are La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Michael Harrison - to name a few. Their tunings create never before heard of combinations of intervals that produce many beautiful and interesting new harmonies, scales, and textural effects. Of course, these brands of tuning are limited by the internal structure of the instrument itself. One must be very careful because the piano can only hold so much tension before it breaks.

5.Piano Technicians can rectify the eventually reduction in performance of action due to the compression of the felt and warping of the woods. Piano Technician is trained to restore your piano to optimal operation by regulation.

6. A piano tuner makes adjustments ranging from turning a small screw to sanding down a wood surface. Many new pianos are not perfectly regulated when released from the factory, or quickly lose their regulation when moved to their new home, and benefit from regulation in the store or in the home. The goal of regulation by a piano technician is to make the piano's touch and sound consistent across all notes.