Piano tuning is simply the process of accurately tightening or loosening the more than 200 strings found in modern pianos. Of course, that’s much, much easier said than done. Piano technicians, often just called tuners, use various specialty tools when tuning your piano. These tools include:
- Piano tuning hammer (sometimes called a wrench)
- Tuning fork or electronic tuning device (ETD)
- Strip mutes and/or wedges
As you can see it really doesn’t take a lot of tools to get the job done. It does, however, require a lot of skill. What kind of skills?
Piano tuning requires patience and focus. It also requires good listening skills and mechanical aptitude skills. And, it takes lots and lots of practice. Most pianos take about an hour and a half to complete a quality tuning performed by a seasoned professional. That’s assuming it doesn’t require a “pre-tuning” or pitch correction first. This will add more total time needed to complete the process. Of course, some technicians are faster and some are slower, so times will vary a little.
Pre-Tuning
Before the start of tuning the Technician must first evaluate the overall current tuning of the piano. Using a tuning fork or electronic tuning device (ETD), the tuner will first determine if the piano needs a pitch correction and fine tuning or just a fine tuning. I won’t go into the details of how that is done. But, having been first an aural tuner who now uses an ETD, I can say the machine allows me to more quickly and accurately make this determination. After evaluating the pitch of the piano, I like to play octaves with both hands up and down the piano to listen to the stretch and overall current tuning. I’ll play these same octaves at the end of the tuning to give me a good “before” and “after” snapshot.
What’s a Pitch Correction?
A pitch correction is an overall raising or lowering to the piano strings tension and must be done prior to a fine tuning if the pianos current pitch is too far above or below the desired final pitch (usually Concert A440). Your piano may need a pitch correction prior to tuning if:
- the piano is new or recently re-strung – piano strings do a lot of stretching when new
- it has gone a long time between tunings
- you have moved it since it was last tuned
- the weather has had sustained changes in humidity and temperature
- the piano has had heavy and/or excessive playing
Let’s Tune already
There are two types of tuning methods commonly used today: aurally (by ear), and using an ETD (electronic tuning device). Many of us, including myself, combine the two methods to reap the benefits of both.
Traditionally, aural tuners begin by tuning one octave in the mid-range of the piano called the temperament octave(usually from notes F3 to F4). This temperament octave requires a lot of skill to master. It is both precise and slightly unique for each piano as is the tuning itself. Accomplished aural tuners can set a temperament very quickly with practice. The aural tuner will next extend that one-octave temperament by sequencially tuning one string of all remaining notes to the top and bottom of the piano and finish by tuning the remaining groups of strings, called unisons, that make up each note.
By comparison, tuners using an ETD typically start at the bottom of the piano with note A0 and proceed up all the way to the top note tuning every string along the way. ETD tuners often check their work using aural tuning tests as they progress through the tuning.
This process must be done for both a pitch correction and a fine tuning. So, if you wonder why a tuner charges more for a piano that is farther out-of-tune, you now know it’s because it requires much more work to complete. However, the pitch correction is generally done very quickly and with much less accuracy than the fine tuning.
As the tuner progresses through the tuning, he frequently checks his work using well known tuning tests. These tests involve playing a variety of musical intervals such as fourths, fifths, thirds and sixths. Playing these intervals produces very subtle, but important beats (pulsating sounds) which the tuner uses to determine exactly when each note is “in tune”. It is common for tuners to make multiple passes up and down the piano with each pass bringing it closer and closer to perfection.
Finishing the Piano Tuning
OK, so Mr. or Ms. tuner has gone through a complete tuning and possibly a pitch correction and tuning. So what’s left? – Usually some final testing and of course playing music. You see, there is not much point to all this tuning and testing if it doesn’t make the piano sound more musical. And a great way to test for that is to play some music! Because I love Jazz music, I typically try out short samples of some of my jazz favorites. Tuners all seem to have their own favorite musical pieces to play.
So, as you can see, tuning a piano is not an easy task. Professional piano technicians work years at mastering the skills necessary to become highly competent. Although some may consider the job of a piano tuner to be very tedious, I have found it to be very rewarding and satisfying. After all, I am making the world a more harmonious place – one piano at a time. If you need piano service and are located in or around the Inland Empire of Southern California, please feel free to give me a call at 951-780-8772. I’d be happy to help your piano sound and play it’s BEST!