Regular Tuning

This service refers to adjusting the string tension in order to make the piano perfectly in tune with itself, not necessarily at standard concert pitch. If the piano has not been tuned in quite some time (usually 2 years or more), it may require a pitch raise in order to bring it back up to concert pitch A440 and remain stable. This can only be determined at the time of the appointment.

Our price for this service is $75.00.

Pitch Raise & Tune

This service is necessary if your piano hasn't been tuned in quite some time, or if it has been subjected to extreme swings in humidity or temperature. If the pitch has dropped one quarter tone or more below standard pitch, it needs to be brought up gradually with consecutive tunings (on the same visit) or the tuning will not hold. It can be determined whether or not this is necessary at the time of the appointment.

Our price for this service Varies.

Call or Email us for price.

Concert Pitch

Concert pitch A440 (A above middle C vibrating at 440 times per second) has been universally accepted as the pitch to which all instruments should be tuned. It ensures that when instruments play together, they will all be in tune with one another.

Pianos are designed and built to sound their best when tuned to A440. So when your piano's pitch drops due to lack of tuning, the quality of tone suffers.

Also, if a piano is not tuned for quite some time, it's pitch begins to slip far enough away from concert pitch that it may require a pitch raise in order to achieve a stable tuning

Pitch Raise

Pitch Raise is needed when you don't tune your piano for a long time: every year that passes by, the pitch drops further and further away from where it should be, and it becomes harder for a piano tuner to pull it back up to its proper tension levels. Pianos generally go flat during our long winter months, and do not necessarily rise back up to where they were in the summer.

Technicians have to raise the tension of over 200 strings, which puts a lot of strain on the piano's structure. It's impossible to make such a big jump in pitch and have a stable tuning in one pass. So what they have to do is first raise all the strings to their proper average tension levels, and only then can the piano be accurately tuned. This is called a "pitch raise".

A pitch raise requires more time and effort than a regular tuning, and as a result, a piano technician's fee is a bit higher.

Also, keep in mind that it is highly advisable (sometimes necessary) to have the piano tuned again within the next 6 months after a pitch raise. This will help keep the tension level of the strings more stable - at the level it should have been in the first place.

Regular tunings - at least once a year (every 6 months is preferable) will prevent the need for a pitch raise in the future. Like many other things, pianos require regular maintenance.


 

Why Pianos Require Tuning

There has never been a piano made by any company, at any price, that does not require a schedule of regular tunings. It is also a fact that a piano will go out of tune whether it is played or not.

By far, the main reason why pianos go out of tune is due to changes in humidity from season to season, affecting all pianos, new and old, played and unplayed.

Fluctuations in room temperature surrounding the piano cause less of a change in tuning than humidity changes do. But, direct sunlight or heat from stage lights can cause rapid changes in tuning.

When you move, it is not so much the transportation of the piano that throws the tuning out as much as the piano acclimatizing to its new room environment.

If both humidity and temperature are controlled in the room where the piano is situated, these swings in tuning virtually disappear and your tuning is much more stable. So is the overall consistency of the touch response you'll get from the keyboard.

New strings can cause the pitch to go flat. New music wire is quite elastic and starts to stretch as soon as it is pulled up to pitch. This is why new pianos or pianos that have been restrung need to be tuned more frequently in the first year. Each time the wire is pulled up, the amount of stretching decreases and the tuning becomes more stable.

Slipping tuning pins can cause a piano to go flat. Older pianos that have been exposed to regular seasonal humidity changes over the years can have loose tuning pins and as a result, have poor tuning stability.

The louder and more often you play a piano, the faster it goes out of tune by a small amount. The force of a hammer repeatedly hitting a string can affect the equalization of tension along the string's length, and cause its pitch to be slightly altered.

To put the matter of tuning in perspective, remember that a concert piano is tuned before every performance, and a piano in a professional recording studio, where it is in constant use, is tuned 3 or 4 times every week as a matter of course.