Greetings all,

I came upon this site while seeking information from professional piano tuners about how to get started in the business. Initially, I'd like to experiment with my own piano at home (a recently refurbished 1896 Steinway upright) and perhaps someday expand casual tuning into a means of extra spending cash. I'd love recommendations about what I need to get started as well as any useful techniques or pattern suggestions. Input from those of you who do not use an electric tuner would be greatly appreciated too, as I have perfect pitch and will not be using any electronic equipment.

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to hearing from you!

First, blast the notion out of your mind that "perfect pitch" will be any help.

Then get Arthur Reblitz' book. It has a couple of chapters on the theory and practice of tuning, along with a bunch of generally good (but not all) info on other aspects of piano service.

Then you may want to find a mentor, or look into the Potter course, or, better, both!!

I would be more concerned to get good and have a professional outlook, doing professional work...'casual tuning ...as a means of getting extra spending cash'...is not the motivation that would inspire me to teach you anything...and as I use 'an electronic tuner' I would be dismissed...lucky me...

Most casual .. want extra spending cash..tuners I know..charge half the going rate, and do less than half the job. Nobody wants to teach them.

Forget the idea of perfect pitch. There is no such thing when it comes to piano tuning. Yes, I'm sure you will argue this point when you read the foregoing statement, most musicians do. But allow me to echo what has previously been stated by the other's comments. Casual tuning for a little extra cash is entirely the wrong motivation to learn to tune, especially by ear. It is obvious you have no idea of the amount of motivation needed, nor the amount of time it will take you to learn. The last thing the world needs is another jack leg, self trained, money motivated piano tooner.

If you are serious, I would also encourage you to enroll in the Randy Potter Course, or better yet get formal school training. Gain as much proficiency as possible through aural tuning, before you break down and buy an ETD. It will not become as much of a crutch, if you do this. Join the Piano Technicians Guild, and find a mentor. Being able to do quality repairs is just as important as learning to tune.

If you cannot find the motivation and dedication to the learn the craft to the highest degree possible, do yourself a favor and stick with playing the piano. You will be wasting your time and money, otherwise.

"Perfect pitch" as it were, is not nearly as important as a strong sense of rhythm. This is because intervals are tuned according to the comparative speed of "beats" that are produced from the higher partial overtones of two pitches sounding simultaneously-i.e. this interval is beating a half beat or one beat per second faster than that interval.

Add to that the phenomenon of "stretching" certain intervals like octaves due to inharmonicity of partial overtones means you must tune notes "slightly off" as it were to compensate for this effect.

Let's say you have two pianos in a room- one a spinet, the other a concert grand. The "inharmonicity" of each piano is different. So, after setting pitch on A4, each piano is tuned to itself and chances are almost certain that A4 is the only note that may "agree" between the two. All other notes will be off- less immediately around A4 and progressively more so as you go out to the extremes.

Tuning pianos, all pianos, is a series of compromises, the degrees to which are different for every one.

In order for you to get started you will need some research books on tuning and tuning techniques, and further you will need some tools.

The books can be found on-line or at the library, the tools can be found at a piano tool supplier or here in the sales dept at Piano World.

It is good you have an instrument at home to “practice” on. I would encourage you to NOT do any practice to this restored instrument but obtain a free tall old upright and practice on that. This way if you screw something up or damage something it won’t matter too much.

As far as using perfect pitch or rhythm, I won’t comment on those topics because, after all, once you begin tuning, or trying to tune, you will find out soon enough what the answers to those questions really are.