For 24 years I have been committed to pursuing excellence as a piano tuner with one goal in mind: bringing the best out of each piano I care for.
Whether you are a performing artist in need of a piano tuning for a concert, or an individual who wants your occasionally used piano singing beautifully, I will use my passion for music and my outstanding commitment to excellence to bring out the hidden beauty of your piano.
I use the combination of aural tuning and visual tuning (with the help of mordern computer technology) to tune each individula piano, optimizing the tone, harmonizing the detail with the whole, and maximizes stability.
I calibrate the computer against the most accurate source of pitch that one can get, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), instead of a tuning fork, whose pitch changes slightly with the temperature and humidity.
By Default, I use equal temperament (set A4 440) to tune your piano. However, if you choose to tune your piano in an unequal temperament, we have several doznes temperaments for you to choose.
The first time I tune your piano, I will measure the inharmonicity of your piano, yielding a best-fit infarmonicity model and save it to a file. I will then use the comprehensive tuning file to tune your piano each time thereafter to the same pitch.
How Often should I tune my pianoIt depends upon its condition, the environment in which it is located, and the musical demands of the owner. A piano used mainly as a piece of furniture probably won't "need" to be tuned more than once a year. A piano that is played used regularly and is in good condition might get by with being tuned twice a year. A piano given a daily workout by a professional musician or serious student might need to be tuned monthly or even more frequently. -- quoted from Piano Servicing, Tuning, and Rebuilding, 2nd Edision, Page 239, by Authur A. Reblitz
Why does a piano go out of tune?The main reason is the change of the humidity changes. The piano is made primarily of wood. Being made of wood the parts within the piano will shrink and swell with the humidity changes. In the summertime when the humidity levels are higher, the piano keys may stick and the piano action will become sluggish. In the wintertime when the air is dryer, the piano keys seem to rattle when you play them. Therefore, the swelling and the shrinking affects the piano's pinblock which keeps the piano tuning pins tight. When the piano pinblock absorbs moisture it swells, crushing the wood fibers against the tuning pins, thus, the tuning pins begin to tighten raising the pitch of the piano. In the dry seasons, the wood shrinks away from the tuning pins, loosening the tuning pins causing the strings to drop in pitch.
There are other factors which will change the tension of the strings and make the piano go out of tune. These factors include:
When is the best time to tune a piano?If your piano has not been tuned in many years or has just been moved between similar environments with similar humidity, any time is the best time to bring your piano back to correct (concert) pitch. If the piano has been moved out of or into an overly damp or dry environment it is recommended that you wait 2-3 weeks to allow the piano to adjust.
I'm thinking of selling my piano. Should I have it tuned? Yes and no. Yes if you are selling to most of the normal potential buyers who will mainly judge your piano by the sound of your piano, you don't want to disappoint them by the poorly sound piano, a few stickey keys, broken strings, squeaky pedals.
No if your buyer is a piano dealer, rebuilder or some expert who will take the action out, check all the internal structure of your piano. And no need to tune it if you know it is un-tunable or the piano is only worth a few hundreds of dollars.
Can I tune my piano myself?Possibly, If you are willing to take the time, and have the patience, to learn how to do it properly. Warning: it's not as easy as it looks, and there are some dangers. Tuning a piano is not a procedure to be taken lightly, because you are dealing with over 200 piano strings that have a combined total of 20 to 30 tons of tension. If you don't know what you are doing you can break strings, break the piano's cast iron frame, or hurt yourself or others. However, if you conscientiously study any of a number of authoritative books on the subject, or take a course in piano tuning, and take the time to learn the proper technique, it can be quite safe.
Unless your piano tuner is just a rank beginner, he/she has probably put in several years mastering the technique. If you don't know what a piano in tune should sound like in the first place, it's going to be rough learning. However, even if you do know what a piano in tune should sound like, it doesn't necessarily make the task any easier, because you will be able to hear how far short of the mark your first tunings fall.
Piano tuning requires special tools, just like servicing new model cars does. If you don't have the proper tools, you cannot hope to do a satisfactory job. You cannot tune a piano with a normal socket or adjustable wrench. If you attempt to do so, you will inevitably mar the tuning pins, and make it difficult or impossible for anyone else to subsequently tune the piano. You will need at the minimum a proper piano tuning wrench (or tuning hammer, as it is called in the profession), a tuning fork or other appropriate pitch reference, and a set of mutes to silence the strings you are not tuning. And most importantly, incredible patience. The tools themselves are not that expensive. Learning to use them properly is, at least, in terms of the time involved.
Remember that tuning a piano is an art and a skill, just like playing the piano, acquired only after years of practice and study. It's not a task that can be learned in a weekend. Your first attempts at tuning a piano will be very frustrating, your first tuning will probably take you over eight hours to do, and when you are done it will probably not last very long or sound very good. But after doing a dozen or more tunings you may actually get to the point where the piano sounds better than it did before you started. After doing a hundred or more tunings you may actually be able to stand to listen to them.
How a grand piano action works
A grand piano action consists of about 60 parts. They work together in the following sequences:
The following picture illustrate how a grand piano action works.
How an upright action works
An upright action consists of roughly 60 parts. They work together in the following sequences:
The following picture illustrate how an upright piano action works.
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