Why, and How Often, Must You Tune A Piano

 The piano is unique, in that it is the only instrument in the orchestra not tuned by its owner/player. Violinists tune their own violins, as due horn players and even harpists. The piano is the only nstrument where the owner calls in a separate serviceperson to tune it for them. Why is this?

First, every piano has about 240 strings that must be tightened or loosened to the exact pitch, then fixed in position so their pitch holds. This requires turning tuning pins so tight that the tuner must use a long-handled wrench and adjust each pin to a precise point. This is further complicated by the fact that most of the piano’s 88 notes are sounded by striking two or three strings together to form just one note, so those three strings must be in perfect unison with each other.

Finally there is the necessity to tune all the 3rds, 4ths, 5ths, 6ths etc. – everything but the octaves – a pre-determined amount sharp or flat, to give the piano the proper “temperament.” This is because the piano is on of the only instruments capable of playing full chords in all keys, and if this temperament, or compromise, was not applied, if every note was instead tuned to it’s pure frequency, many intervals and chords would sound wildly out of tune. We’ll go into detail about why the piano has a tempered scale in a later post.

The bottom line is, tuning a piano correctly is a very special skill set, and takes a long time to learn and get good at, and a fair amount of time spent tuning each piano. Most pianists don’t want to bother learning and perfecting those skills; they’re busy enough just mastering playing the thing! So for somewhere around $100 a pop, they call in the tuner.

Pianos also hold a tremendous amount of tension when tuned up to concert pitch. A fully tuned grand piano carries about 2 tons of tension across its scale. If you’ve ever wondered why pianos are all have that massive heavy plate – cast iron, and usually sprayed gold – inside them, holding the strings, there’s your answer. With 4000 pounds of tension constantly pulling, if there were no iron plate, just a wooden frame, it would be reduced to splinters in a flash.

That same constant 4000 pounds of tension, coupled with fluctuations in the humidity and temperature of whatever room the piano sits in, is the reason why they can rapidly go out of tune. Many piano owners balk at the necessity to tune their piano 2 or even 4 times a year just to keep it in perfect tune. That’s $200-$400 in maintenance costs every year, and that’s without added costs of mechanical adjustments and replacement of worn-out parts, so I can understand their hesitation.

Still, it comes with ownership of any fine piano. It’s sometimes useful to remember that the expensive concert pianos on evey concert stage like Carnegie Hall, are tuned before every performance, not just 3 or 4 times a year. Knowing that these pianos are the finest quality, attended to by only the best piano technicians available, should be a hint that no piano, no matter how expensive or well-tuned, holds a perfect tuning for more than a short time, sometimes as little as several hours of hard play. So having you own instrument tuned once every 4 or 6 months is really no big deal. If your piano is subject to many daily hours of hard practice, or you live in a region where there are big constant changes in the climate and humidity, you will need to tune it even more often.

Next we’ll look at how to choose a tuner, and some of the other tasks, beyond simple tuning, he or she must perform on a semi-regular basis to maintain you piano in top form.
 

For more check out these related posts

• Why Do Pianos Have A “Tempered” Scale?