Cincinnati Piano Tuning www.cincinnatipianotuning.com cincinnatipianotuning.com (R)

Tuning Questions

1. When should I have my piano tuned and why?

Anytime the piano is in an environment that changes with the seasons, the piano soundboard will react the same unless the piano is humidity controlled at 42% year round. In Ohio, pianos are going to react to four seasons so the best practices is a piano tuning during the seasonal change from Winter to Spring (e.g. late March, April, May, or early June) and from Summer to Fall (e.g. late September, October, November, or early December). In July and August the humidity is usually above 52% causing pitch to change sharp and the opposite occurs in January and February when humidity drops usually below 32% out of doors causing pitch to change flat. Pitch changes as the soundboard made of solid spruce or laminated spruce wood reacts to the humidity in the environment. It is best practices to keep the piano away from the outside walls and from heat or water sources inside where the piano is located.

2. How much does a regular piano tuning cost per hour in the United States?

According to a recent survey tuning prices vary between $11.61 per hour (or less) for the lowest 10% of tuners who have less than five years of experience to as much as $54 per hour for the top 10% of piano tuners with twenty years of experience or more tuning pianos in the United States. Typically tuners work independently so the cost to tune a piano increases to cover the cost of transportation, fuel, insurance, payroll taxes, cost of living expenses, plus other considerations such as geographical areas served, market demand, and whether or not the piano will need a pitch raise before attempting to fine tune a piano. The average piano tuning price seems to be a flat rate of $75 to $162 in the United States. Top piano tuners may charge more than $52 per hour for a concert piano tuning including wait time to tune the piano on location.

3. What happens if my piano hasn't been tuned for many years?

A piano tuning pin will loosen and the piano wires begin to relax causing pitch to go flat of the standard musical pitch A-440 and C-523.3 to the point extra tunings will be necessary to raise the pitch and stabilize the pitch. I attempt to raise the piano pitch not more than 20 cents to relative pitch at notes "A" and "C" and may require additional follow up piano tuning. Some customers prefer a follow up piano tuning in a week, others prefer to get on a regular piano tuning schedule and follow up in six months. It's an art and a craft when tuning a piano that hasn't been tuned for many years.

4. What preparation does a professional Piano Tuner go through to get started and how can you help with preparation?

The grand piano, player piano, and vertical piano each have lids and music front boards or music shelfs that require removing to gain access to the tuning pins. Any pictures, books, pencils, pens, paper clips, music sheets, lamps, flowers, etc. need to be removed from the lid prior to the piano tuner arriving.

5. How is the piano pitch checked and what will the pitch be adjusted to after checked?

I am professionally trained to tune a piano by ear. However, no professional piano tuner is apt to tune a piano without a pitch fork or an accurately calibrated digital tuner made for use with an acoustic piano. It is best practices to use a combination of both the ear and digital tuner. Pitch at A-440 is 440 cycles per second. A-440 is the A to the right of middle C. As the pitch changes towards the bass section the hertz drops by 50% for each A note to the left of A-440 and by 200% for each A to the right of A-440. So octave 4-A is 220 hertz, octave 3-A is 110 hertz, octave 2-A is 55 hertz, and low note A at #1 is 27.5 hertz. The highest note on the scale is C at note #88. The C-523.3 to the right of middle C is the 5th octave, followed by C-6 at 523.3 x 2, and C-7 last note #88 at 523.3 x 2 x 2 or 2,093.2 hertz. Normal human hearing is between 27.5 hertz and 2,093.2 hertz. A digital tuner takes the guess work out of tuning the piano by giving the piano tuner an audio and / or visual aid to check the tuning by ear. The digital tuner is an asset when determining how far out pitch is from the standard musical pitch A-440 and C-523.3. It is best practices to incorporate both professionally trained piano tuning by ear and an accurately calibrated very high quality orchestra digital tuner that is designed, tested, and used for setting pitch on A-440, equal temperament including 4ths, 5ths, and checking with 3rds, octaves, and unisons of an acoustic piano.

6. What is a complete piano climate control system?

The only complete piano climate control system that I refer my customer to is from Dampp-Chaser. It is best practices to invest in the complete system to control the humidity inside the vertical piano or underneath a grand piano between the beams or behind the piano between the beams of a player piano. If your environment is unstable such you are not able to get the humidity under control at 42%, then pitch will continue to fluctuate with changes in the weather and location of the piano inside. For more details go to http://www.dampp-chaser.com about this system and protecting your piano from humidity extremes.

7. Can a complete piano climate control system be utilized in an acoustic piano with modern player technolgy?

Yes. To help keep the humidity at 42% in a grand piano with modern player technology installed, it is best practices to add a piano blanket above the piano wires within the grand piano. The humidity can come through the nose bolt openings and disperse to help maintain constant humidity in the bass, tenor, and treble section of the piano. It is best practices to have the humidifier tank cleaned, evaporation pads replaced, and new sleeves over the heat tube containing a heat source above the humidifier tank, plus new plastic liner, all supplied by your purchase of the evaporation pads, liner, sleeve, and pad treatment solution from Dampp-Chaser directly.

8. How can I purchase a complete Dampp-Chaser System for my piano?

It is best practices to purchase the system from authorized piano suppliers who have an established business relationship with authorized Dampp-Chaser piano tuner or technician installers. The complete unit is purchased by you at cost from the piano supplier via the piano tuner or piano technician of your choice. The installation is a separate cost. It is best practices to have the piano tuning approximately two weeks after the piano installation date to allow time for the soundboard to adjust to the correct humidity conditions at 42%. It is best practices to allow four weeks from start to finish: to order, install, and tune the piano. Email notification is the best practice and / or phone call for follow up. Purchase of the complete dampp-chaser system requires prepayment of $210.61 for a 6GPS-50w-SB ( 6' grand piano or smaller); $183 for a 5PS-50w-SB vertical piano (excluding backside player system.) Installation is $100 for either the vertical or grand complete piano climate control systems. Travel $2.25 per mile after the first 30 miles from 4914 Cooper Road, Cincinnati, OH 45242 1-way using GPS fastest route and rounding the the nearest whole number. See Rates page for piano tuning pricing.

9. What can I do to clean my dirty piano keys?

It is best practices to clean dirty piano keys with non-abrasive dish washing / hand soap with a soft cloth and dry.

10. Why are my keys sluggish or slow to return?

It is best practices to maintain a humidity environment at 42%. Avoid outside walls and doors or water sources and plants on the lid above the piano keys. It is best practices to isolate the source of the problem (e.g. swelling key felt bushings at balance rail or front rail pin locations of key, wood slivers rubbing adjacent keys, warped keys, an out of alignment balance rail pin causing key to become unlevel with adjacent keys and incidental contact to occur slowing key movement, and sometimes debris between keys), make a recommendation (e.g. remove key, ease key felt bushings at balance rail and front rail, put key into its place, test key and if moving freely then that source of the problem is solved), and if need be a referral to a specialist if the problem persists. Action sluggishness due to higher than normal humidity conditions can cause swelling of center pin flange felt bushings associated with the hammer butt shank flange, thus slowing the hammer return to the hammer rest rail. A commonly used automotive lubricate is used on piano center pin felt bushings called Protek solution. When applied directly with use of a hipo oiler the left soft pedal can be used to test the effectiveness of the applied solution. After several movements of the soft pedal a marked improvement in the hammer return to the rest position should be observed. Protek solution is available from some piano suppliers.

11. Should the piano be tuned before selling the piano?

Yes. It is best practices to evaluate the piano and if need be tune the piano to be sure the keys are functional and piano can be tuned safely to pitch A-440 and C-523.3 and stabilized on pitch. A professional piano tuner or technician should evaluate the piano to be sure it can be tuned especially older pianos and acoustic pianos with older player technology installed that can obstruct access to tuning pins and with associated risk of tubing breakage because of cracking from the inside of the neoprene tubing or other tubing material high. It seems the average evaluation of a piano is $25 to $50. Ask for an evaluation. See policy page for Piano Evaluation Rate.

12. How can I find out how old my piano is by looking at my piano?

It is best practices to rely upon the serial number imprinted or printed on the wood or cast iron plate of your piano or sometimes on the printed label or plate. In older upright pianos its usually between the bass and tenor section by the tuning pins. In younger pianos, its on the side of the piano, or punched in the wood, or on a plate. Grand pianos will have a serial number on the dark lettering right capo bar of piano, between bass and tenor printed, sometimes imprinted in the wood on the soundboard, pinblock, or under the piano. Age is verified by using a reliable source book from Bob Pierce that determines the year the piano was built by falling within a range of serial numbers, the piano manufacturer's name on the piano, and model type (e.g. spinet, console, studio, upright, baby grand, grand, concert grand, square grand.) There were over 700 piano manufacturers in the United States during the hey day of the acoustic piano market from the early 1900s. There are only a handful of piano manufacturers building pianos in the United States today. Most labor intensive piano manufacturing is produced in Japan (e.g. Yamaha, Kawai), China (e.g. Baldwin, Pearl River), or South Korea (e.g. Young Chang, Sojin), Germany, Austria, Czech, Russia, Mexico, else United States (e.g. Steinway & Sons (NY), Mason-Hamlin (MA), Charles Walters (IN).)

13. When did the acoustic piano market peak in the United States?

The vertical piano market peaked in 1978-1979 when millions of smaller vertical pianos called spinets and consoles were made and sold in the United States. The useful life of a smaller vertical piano such as spinets and consoles is 50 to 60 years. It is estimated there are millions of smaller vertical pianos in homes, schools, churches, etc. throughout the United States today, given most are around 30 years old in 2010 or younger.

14. Do you teach piano tuning lessons?

It is best practices to attend a piano tuning school that "trains" hands-on the art and craft of tuning a piano by ear and after completing the professional training, then learn how and what a quality orchestra digital tuner can do to help check the pitch, set the relative pitch, check the equal temperament, check octaves, unisons, and shifts in pitch from octave to octave. If and when a school is established, this information will be posted at http://www.cincinnatischoolof.org as details become available. Store details may be posted online at http://shop.cincinnatipiano.com (coming soon) for ordering tools and accessories for piano tuners, tuning, repairs, piano climate control system installs.

15. Does CA Glue work inside the piano tuning pin hole?

Bob's referral is to one particular product called "Hot Stuff (Red Label)" (product HS-4 Hot Stuff Thin 2 oz.) from http://www.caglue.com (Satellite City, Inc.), which is a woodworkers product. CA stands for high strength, industrial grade cyanoacrylate glues (commonly referred to as CA glue or super glue.) The product hardens immediately. The epoxy cures when coming into contact with the moisture in the wood. One customer commented that when using a dry paper towel to wipe up some excess drops, the fibers were smoking. According to the CA Glue representative, its okay to use the dry paper towels to wipe off excess droppings, but to avoid using wet paper towels since the epoxy speeds up its curing process when in contact with moisture. Customer's who have used this product on their own piano tuning pin holes (top-down view), the tuning pin resistance improved when applying 4 to 6 drops per tuning pin hole. Use of newspaper under the pin plank is helpful. Bob's opinion is that "HS-4 Hot Stuff Thin (Red Label) 2 oz bottle" in the tuning pin holes does improve the tuning pin resistance to tune the piano as a short cut before restringing the piano. The current price for this product is around $10.50 plus shipping as of August 2010 at the site above.

FAQ last updated on August 23, 2010 at 10:32 PM EDT