DIY Piano tuning

A440 is standard. If you want to jam with other musicians you definitely want to bring it up to 440. Like Lt. Bob said, if you have no plans to have other musicians over, then a lower tuning would be okay if you can stand it.

It will take several tunings to get the piano up to 440 and be stable. There are some very old pianos that won't hold a tuning, but that means they have technical problems.

As far as snapping strings, you can do that if you over tighten. But the strings are designed for the tension required to hold their respective pitch. So that intended pitch and under shouldn't cause them to snap. I could see an inexperienced tuner over tightening though, which could indeed snap them. Especially older and/or rusty strings. If they are in bad enough shape they might finally snap at lesser tension as well.
 
i really wonder what those perfect perfect pitch people do when they go to an orchestra and its A442.

i came to a jury with a string section (me guitar) and we tuned to eachother.

one of the teachers was like..could you guys tune up just a few cents?

i've also heard of cellists playing a piece detuned a half step and the perfect pitch person holding the music listening was really bothered by reading and hearing different things.

i mean..you can't just go to a concert and go...guy's ...i'm sorry...could we stop..yeah..tune up just a little please. that means you too, harp.
 
Thanks LT Bob and all the responses....I live in Marianna, Fl, 60 miles west of Tally, armpit peanut town, good place to have raised the kids though. :)

The piano tuner in question is the only one listed in the telephone book....period. He sez he's so good he can strobe one string and do the rest by ear...haha...he's been to my place before and I wasn't satisfied, the main problem is I am moving the piano from next door into my studio, its only a couple hundred feet, but will need to be tuned and brought up to concert A440 for recording purposes...now if SRV was still with us and would come jamm 420 wouldn't be a problem :D but all my friends and clients tune up.
$95 for tuning A420 as is
$35 more for A440
$50 moving....jeesh this guy is from the town's Christian bookstore

$180 to move it next door and tune it right....did I mention he's lazy?

I'm a guitar player...and getting a crank and some rubber stops seems pretty good at the moment..I do have alot of time.:rolleyes:
 
I don't know, where I live $180 to move a piano and tune it isn't out of line at all.

Since you are not happy with this tuner, you might want to ask around and see if there is someone else in your area. There might be a tuner who hasn't advertised in the yellow pages.
 
I charge $75 for a straight up tuning ...... that doesn't cover any repairs at all although I might fix some minor things as I'm tuning and not charge. In general .... I get $50 an hour plus parts for repairs.

As for moving ..... I don't do that but $100 to move one doesn't seem high.
I mean ...... would you take your truck and drive somewhere ..... load up a piano taking responsibility for it, move the thing, even if it's next door, and drive home for any less?
As for tuners ...... they are getting harder to find because it's an old persons' job and very many are dying. And you're a bit too far for me to come do it without charging a bunch 'cause I live in Deland.
But there HAS to be another tuner somewhere around there. Hell .... you live within reach of Tallahasse and I've actually heard of some tuner that lives around there.
Go call every piano store you can find within 50 miles of you and I'd bet you'll end up with at least a half dozen of them
 
$50 moving....jeesh this guy is from the town's Christian bookstore

??? So what?? It's a JOB. He is being paid to do a JOB.
I remember years ago when I was selling a computer. The lady who bought it was trying to get me to go down in price because it was going to be used for her church.:rolleyes:
People who work in Christian Bookstores dont get discounts when their car breaks or they need groceries.:rolleyes: Now that that's over with:

He's full of crap.

I agree, thats the dumbest thing I have ever heard.:rolleyes: 420 for home?? HA! Unless you happen to be tuning Trevor Pinnocks pianny:D












People rush to google to see who Trevor Pinnock is....
 
thank you all for letting me interject here. You have eased my mind on the pricing, and I sure don't have any ill thoughts about the local Christian bookstore, we all make a living and depend on outside services....I will make an effort to check out some more piano tuners in the area...good sage advice, thanks.
 
Piano is tuned down a minor third

Years ago when I went to buy this piano I told the guy I didn't want to spend a lot of money so he said show him the bombers in the basement.
I bought one for $200 and said he couldn't tune it up because he kept breaking strings. I had it tuned once since. When you play C it is really A and so on and so forth. A guy at one piano store said not all pianos are in concert key. I just want it in tune before I move and then I'll get rid of it so I just want to tune the notes that are off. My question is: Would the Korg Chromatic Tuner still work with it, and does that affect the temperment at all?
Or should I dispense with the Korg and just tune the notes by ear? What would I compare the off note with to make it sound good? I'm a guitarist so I know what sounds ok. IOW, compare to the fifth? Or the fifth below? What about major thirds, or fourths? Thanks.
 
Experienced both ways

1964 Steinway French Provincial, and also used to own a Yamaha CP-80.

When the computer chip strobe device came out (I recall this to be in the early 1980's), I had piano tuner do both pianos with the strobe, which would indicate to the exact cent which way a string should go.

I remember clearly that in both pianos, using the strobe tuner, just did not make me happy.

The guy I have now, does it by ear and a tuning fork, and he is awesome. The sound is so good.

He charges $65.



So bottom line, in my thinking, is that in addition to the science (knowledge), the tuning guys who really understand sound will be the best artists in their craft.

I could not attempt to explain why the perfect tuning using a computer sounded not-so-great. I have no idea why. The whole equal temperament tuning idea is so that all the strings will be equally distributed regardless of what key you play in. So theoretically, if you stray from this concept, you should find some keys sound better (closer to perfect tuning for that particular key) and some keys should sound worse. But that was not what I have experienced from what I already wrote.
 
Back
Top