Piano tuning

Your piano is an investment. To ensure its performance over its lifetime, to preserve your instrument and to avoid costly repairs in the future, it is important to have your piano serviced regularly by a qualified professional.

Piano tuning is the act of making minute adjustments to the tensions of the strings of a piano to properly align the intervals between their tones so that the instrument is in tune. The meaning of the term in tune in the context of piano tuning is not simply a particular fixed set of pitches.

Upright Piano Tuning

Changes in temperature, humidity and/or heavy use will make it necessary fora piano to have more frequent tunings. If a piano is not given regular tunings, the instrument will become unstable. It is difficult for a technician to tune a neglected piano; some times it is more costly to restore a neglected piano to hold tune than if it had been kept under regular and constant care.

Unfortunately, no matter how expertly a piano is tuned, atmospheric variations and the nature of the piano's construction constantly conspire to bring it off pitch. A so called DamppChaser System that can be installed on any piano or grand piano as an after market product will however greatly reduce the instability as it aims to reduce changes in admospheric conditions.

Your piano will perform best under consistent conditions neither too wet or dry, optimally at a temperature of 68 degrees F and 42% relative humidity. Dryness causes the piano's pitch to go flat; moisture makes it go sharp.

Fine piano tuning requires an assessment of the interaction among notes, which is different for every piano, thus in practice requiring slightly different pitches from any theoretical standard. Pianos are usually tuned to a modified version of the system called equal temperament (see Piano key frequencies for the theoretical piano tuning). In all systems of tuning, every pitch may be derived from its relationship to a chosen fixed pitch, which is usually A440. 

Grand Piano Tuning

Piano tuning is done by a wide range of independent piano technicians, piano rebuilders, piano store technical personnel, and hobbyists. Professional training and certification is available from organizations or guilds such as the Piano Technicians Guild.

An upright piano tuning cost between $90 and $125 depending on the area and the quality of the tuner. Also remember a tuner might not be a technician, these are two different things. A tuner tunes, a technician also knows about the inside of the piano. Many people that call themseves technicians are not. Make sure you deal with a qualified piano tuner or technician, ask for their certification, not with someone that does not want to work for minimum wage and thinks this is a good way of making extra money. A grand piano tuning usualy cost a little more.