I know you should never do this but the layout of doors and windows in my living areas means that the only space I can fit my piano is against an external wall. To make matters worse, it's split so that half the piano is against a true external wall (and only single brick at that) and the other half backs onto the garage wall so the piano is presumably getting 2 different temperatures.

I had it tuned about 8 weeks ago and about 2 octaves have taken a severe nosedive and are very noticeably out of tune, even to a novice such as me. I know the position of my piano is not ideal but I'm alarmed that it could have gone out of tune so quickly, especially as we have had very mild weather.

Has anyone had a similar problem and know of anything I can do? Perhaps a partition between the piano and wall to create a pocket of air?

I was going to suspect a partition, but I see that's one idea you already have. I bet that would make a big difference.

My piano is in the corner between and internal wall and a patio door (i.e. window!) So the bass side of the piano is to the window. This isn't ideal, but we do have two curtains, with the main curtain being one of those "shut-out" curtains that are very heavy and prevent any silent from coming in (it has a black liner on the back, what are those curtains called in english?!) Anyway, I don't have too many problems, and I think it's thanks to that curtain set up.

If you don't get any other suggestions, maybe you should try posting this question to the piano forum?

Good luck!

Thanks ShiroKuro. I have taken your advice and posted on the piano forum as well. I'm really shocked that I should need it tuned within 2 months of the 1st tune so I need to hurry up and find a solution before the tuner gets here.

you always want to leave some space between piano and wall, as piano acoustic depends also on surronding. but i don't know if tuning has anything to do with it?

Shimmer, is this a brand new piano? If so, it's not surprising at all that it might need tuning again in two months. The strings on a new piano are still breaking in. Most techs recommend at leats 3-4 tunings the first year.

And it sounds like maybe your tech didn't do a great job the first time around, which if he was the tech from the dealer doing the free tuning, he may not have been given enough money to take his time to do the job right.

The exterior wall, assuming a fairly new house with decent insulation, is a non-issue. More important is to keep the piano away from any windows or heating/air conditioning vents.

Hi Monica,

It's a second hand Yamaha U2 from the 70s and is in excellent condition. We waited 1 month after it was delivered to let it settle down before tuning.

Glad to hear that the external wall should not necessarily cause it to go out of tune so quickly. I will wait for another tuner and see if it settles down after that. thanks.