Tuning a piano?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Wireneck
  • Start date Start date
Wireneck

Wireneck

New member
This is sort of off the wall but i was wondering if there is anyone out there who tunes there own piano? I dont really play but there is one in my house that every now and then when im recording i go, this might sound good with piano but the dang thing is so badly out of tune its not usable. I would get someone to tune it but someone told me its expensive and since i live in a small town you have to be on a waiting list. (pretty pathetic). Anyways i was just curious if there are any tips in trying to do this. It looks like the pegs could be turned with some sort of socket. Someone talk me out of this if its a stupid idea.
 
Sorry , this is something you DON`T do yourself!!!!
A piano use a "tempered" tuning, can`t be done with a regular tuner and experience.

Amund
 
Dont. Really.

Piano tunning is an art. Ive done it, and its not fun. I wound up taking it to someone. Lt. Bob is a piano tuner, maybe he will be along in a bit. I checked out a book from the library, had one of the tools, and still it was a whole lot of no fun

If you must do it yourself, get a book, because its not something you can just figure out.
 
No. Don't - even - try - it.
You'll screw it up bad!
Hire a professional piano tuner. They charge around $80 an hour in my city, and can usually be done in an hour and a half on my piano. I have mine tuned 4 times a year. Tunning is definately something you want to keep up on. Let it go and it'll cost ya the next time around.
 
I used to have a helpinstill stage piano that required tuning just about every time you moved it. But then again, I didnt have to get it exactly right, just close. It still sucked.
 
There actually is a device (kind of the mother of all guitar tuners on steroids) available specifically built for tuning pianos, so that you don't have to rely on your ears, whcih includes various stretch tuning options. But it's not cheap. And you'll also need other tools: at the very least a tuning hammer, muting wedges, and a felt strip.

So it is conceivable you could bypass your untrained ears and still tune a piano. But there's also some technique for "seating" the pin so that it stays in tune once you lift off the hammer. And a lot of other fine points like the proper angle of torque while twisting the pin to maintain the health of the pin-block. There's a lot of subtleties - most places you can get a professional tuning for $75-100. Probably worth getting at least one pro tuning if for no other reason than to let a professional evaluate your piano so you can learn if it is even worth tuning, and what other adjustments to the action (or other physical parts) your piano needs to make it playable.

It's not a bad idea if you are either a pianist or an engineer to have the ability and tools to at least touch up the tuning (especially that unison that invariably goes south in the middle of a session). It also doesn't hurt to be able to know how to pull the guts out and make a few basic adjustments to the action or the dampers. Especially if you have an old instrument (mine is 105 years old). Which is another good reason to establish a relationship with a good pro - most of them will be glad to show you how to do some basic maintenance.
 
figured

Somehow or another, i figured that everyone was gonna say not to even attempt it lol. Even for just 100 bucks, i wouldnt use it enough to spend that much money getting it tuned. Too bad they don't pay people 100 bucks to tune guitars. Now that would be great.
 
Sorry, I couldn't resist.

It's just my juvenile mind at work on a Saturday.
 
Piano tuning is not something to be done by amateurs. Piano tuners are very well trained, and there is a lot more to it than just getting the strings in tune. It also involves adjusting the hardness, and many other small issues (most of which I do not understand, because I am not a piano player or tuner). Just don't do it. Don't even try. When you mess it up, it will cost more to get it repaired than to have gotten it done right in the first place.

Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Light said:
It also involves adjusting the hardness, and many other small issues...
Click to expand...

the "hardness"???

are you sure you aren't mixing this site up with one of your other late night recreational websites?

at least it's refreshing to see you're not embarassed to admit that your "hardness' is a "small issue"...:p
 
I'm pretty sure he's talking about the hammer felts.

But everyone here is correct. It is not a job for the untrained. You can really screw up a piano by doing it yourself.
 
Sennheiser said:
I'm pretty sure he's talking about the hammer felts.
Click to expand...

Aha! That's called "voicing" a piano. But it has nothing to do with the tuning...
 
Yes it is, but since he knows little about a piano I figured he just lumped it in with the tuning part.

And then there is the regulation part of it.
 
this may sound silly, but I took an entire course, JUST on piano tuning...about 25 years ago...well, I think it had some repair stuff in the course too. At this point, since I don't tune them on a regular basis, I only feel qualified to "touch up" notes out of tune with themselves, and the odd note that is obviously out of whack..and the "simple" stuff. Bring an old piano [that might for some odd reason] up a whole step..... I think not. (unless it was mine and I was not doing someone elses for pay) ..and I understand doing something that major is best over several tunings too.
 
Wow. A whole step? Isn't it time for new strings by that time?

I've played on some crappy bar pianos and some very old home pianos, but I don't think I've ever sat down at one that was a whole step out.

I had a Wurlitzer years ago that was built in '53. I inherited it from my uncle. It was pretty bad, but Greg Younger in Belleville, Illinois had it fixed up in about 45 minutes. It still sounded like a honky-tonk piano because the felts had hardened so bad, but it played decent.

It did need new pins and a couple of new strings. It kept slipping about every other week on certain notes.
 
Sennheiser said:
Wow. A whole step? Isn't it time for new strings by that time?
Click to expand...

well....I did say "for some odd reason"....

and...I think new strings would probably be waaay more $$ than the piano, if it needed such a drastic tuning. My [vague] point was to illustrate being careful in doing something as drastic as that so quickly. The increased tension might not favor well...even though it might have been originally built for A440 pitch...too much a change.

right...pno gurus??
 
Gee. I hate to disagree with everyone being new here anad all. But I had real good luck tuning an old upright that was out of tune. Actually it was pretty easy if you can tune a gutair by ear.

Besides, if you are not going to pay to get it tuned anyway, what's the worse thing that can happen, make it out of tune?

If it's an upright, take off the front panel. Find a socket that fits. If I remember right, I ended up turning the socket around and used the 1/8th inch square.

What you will find, is that for each note, except for the real low ones, there are three strings. On mod of them only one of the three are out of tune. Use a gutiar pick to pluck them and tune to match the other strings.

You'll have it sounding great in no time.

Go for it. What do you have to lose?
 
Buck Board said:

If it's an upright, take off the front panel. Find a socket that fits. If I remember right, I ended up turning the socket around and used the 1/8th inch square.

What you will find, is that for each note, except for the real low ones, there are three strings. On mod of them only one of the three are out of tune. Use a gutiar pick to pluck them and tune to match the other strings.

You'll have it sounding great in no time.

Go for it. What do you have to lose?
Click to expand...

Besides your piano?

Sounds like you were very lucky. Tuning with an improper tool can put torque on the pin-block in unintended ways, and can cause loosening of the pins or splitting of the block itself.

Tuning unisons is hardly all a typical piano needs to be in tune by any musical standard. It may sound fine to you, but without first setting the temperment and then tuning the rest of the notes in relation to the temperment, and only then going back and tuning the unisons - you will end up with a piano that is simply out of tune in a different way.

If you tuned it that way and it sounded great, you were either VERY lucky (because your piano was already almost in tune) or have very forgiving ears when it comes to pitch.

Feel free to do what you wish with your own piano, of course. But I don't recommend ANYONE else follow your advice.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top