[Dixielandjazz] METHODS of PIANO TUNING

[David Palmquist]

My suggestion is to get your piano tuned by a professional about once a 
year, and don't place the piano against an outside wall or near a heat source.

A professional tuner will, in my area, charge around $100, but he'll not 
only get it playing it in tune, he'll do certain repairs, fixing sticky 
keys, replacing worn out strings and hammer felts, etc.  Your piano is 
likely worth thousands of dollars, and it makes sense to have it properly 
taken care of by someone who knows what he's doing.

A piano is tuned not only by listening for the exact pitch of each note, 
most likely with a tuning fork rather than an electronic tuner, but also 
playing certain chord patterns sustained, listening for the harmonics as 
the sound waves coincide.  A piano tuner's ear is accustomed to listening 
for that, and I suspect electronic tuners don't have the ability to pick 
out the harmonics (but I am likely wrong)?

In my area there is a piano tuners' guild; there's likely one near your 
community, too.

David in Delta





At 06:51 16-09-03, Andy.Ling at Quantel.Com wrote:
> > Thank you, Andy.  I transported a piano from Pennsylvania
> > to California last year and have had it manually / aurally
> > tuned twice now. I can still hear inaccuracies, especially
> > in the lower and upper registers, but two particular keys
> > in the mid registers.
>
>It depends how far out they are. If they are a long way
>out you usually have to bring them in tune slowly. So
>it might take a few visits from the tuner.
>
>Does the tuner agree they sound wrong?
>Do they sound OK just after the tuner leaves?
>
>If not, then you might need a new piano tuner ;-)
>
>If they were OK, then it may be a mechanical problem. The pegs
>might be slipping or the strings have stopped being stretchy
>and need replacing. Giving a piano a good shake during
>transportation can cause this sort of problem.
>
>I guess you need a piano tuner you can trust, who can tell you
>what, if anything is wrong and the best way to fix it.
>
>
>Andy Ling
>
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