Here is some general information about piano tuning. If I haven’t answered your question here – please feel free to contact me directly and I’ll be happy to help!
- Generally, piano manufacturers recommend a piano tuning be performed at least twice a year due to seasonal changes.
- Seasonal Impacts: the dryness of winter weather causes the pitch to become flat and the humid summer raises the pitch sharp. Tuning your piano regularly will help keep your piano at pitch and add to your enjoyment of your instrument.
- A piano played often will require more frequent tuning than one which is not. If you play a lot and want it in the best tuning shape possible, you should get it tuned every three months. (Studios and live venues generally tune a piano before each performance!) If you rarely play, and and your piano is in a reasonably controlled environment, then it may only need a tuning annually.
- If the piano strings are new, or the piano has been moved recently, it will probably go out of tune because of the piano settling in.
- If your piano is badly out of tune, it might need a “pitch raise”. Tuning is a process of tightening the strings on the piano – and when we have to tighten them over a certain amount in one sitting, we’re introducing incredible strain on the piano itself from the increased tension. This generally results in unstable tunings, strings which slip out of tune quicker than they normally would, requiring return visits to bring the tuning into a stable state. In some cases pianos are so out of tune that it is adviseable to bring them up to pitch over a period of time, perhaps a few months. This helps avoid broken strings, and the return visits for tuning as a result as the new strings also then will need to stretch and stabilize.