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I have used this guy (RPT) for about 3 or 4 visits now. He does a good job, but then I'm pretty clueless about how the piano works and what a tuning really is. Each time there was a problem he would fix it and everything was good. Anyway, it just doesn't sound good to me right now. It's an overall dislike of the way it sounds when I play the keys. It seems different than it was before. I know I have sensitive hearing...no secret in my family....but I have no clue how to explain it to him. I can't even explain it to myself! I would love some suggestions about what to tell him. I don't want him to think I am hard to please or anything like that. I'm willing to pay for another tuning even though it's only been about a month and a half or so. I just want to have a pleasing sound. Please help, I really appreciate it.

If you are a good customer and you are not happy with a tuning, you should call the tuner and ask him about it. Sometimes tuners have bad days. How he responds will give you an idea about how good he really is.

That's the weird thing...it sounded fine after he left, but now it just sounds strange to me. If I use the word strange will he make funny faces and raise his eyebrows...over the phone??? I really hate sounding like an idiot. It's kind of like when you take your car in...they ask what does it sound like and you say a "washing machine" or something like that and they look at you like you are nuts...expecially women.

Do you have a ceiling fan going in the room? I had a friend who was convinced her piano was broken after she had a new ceiling fan installed. It made sense why it only sounded weird on hot days!

-Ryan

I service pianos in Kansas which has a climate mostly similar to Texas.

Here is what I tell people when they ask me, "How often should I have my piano tuned?"

I say the short answer is, "Twice per year, because the change of seasons makes big changes to the tuning from summer to winter and back again."

The longer answer, however, can be really long. "If you have special events where you want the piano to sound great, have your piano tuned the day before or even the day of each of those events. Maybe that will be enough."

"I tune my own piano 2 or 3 times per year on average, but those tunings are never equally spaced, perhaps because of events, perhaps because of unusual weather."

If you had your piano tuned a month and a half ago, then the tuning was in the spring, and the piano's tuning may have still been changing due to the time of year. It is entirely possible that the piano is out of tune now, and another tuning would keep it until fall or winter.

My best suggestion is, schedule another tuning. If you like, tell the tuner you are having some people over and you want the piano to sound its best.

If the piano doesn't sound better after the tuning, then you may wish to try a different tuner next time.

One last thing; every once in a long while a piano will sound different to its owner because the owner's hearing has changed. If you have any reason to doubt your hearing, have it checked!

No new ceiling fan...nothing else new either....you could be right about the season. It has become hot here already...I'll call him..thanks everyone!

That was really an astute and comprehensive answer, Kent. I am glad you decided to participate here. You have some perspectives that will be very valuable in certain discussions.

Pianoobsession: the truth is that any piano tuning can go sour very quickly given the right conditions. If we all lived in San Diego, it would be another matter. I have customers for whom a perfect sounding piano means more to them than anything else, so they have their pianos tuned every other month or so and that is with a humidity control system installed and working properly.

I don't really count or pay attention to how often I tune my own piano but when company is coming and the piano is to be played, the piano gets tuned. Consider that in some places, the piano is tuned each day that it will be used. Others, at least once a week, others, once a month. You have to decide how important that perfect sound is to you and put it in your budget along with other items you pay for regularly such as cable TV and internet, housekeeping and exterior grounds maintenance. How much does your wife pay per year to have her hair done? How often do you take the car for a full service wash?

Do take the guys' advice and talk to your tuner. You're not an idiot. Technicians want their clients to be satisfied with their services. Give him a chance. If he isn't receptive to listening to you, interview another one.

Best of luck to you.

Thanks so much. I'll be calling him for sure....

I'm voting weather. I just had my piano tuned in April. This week it rained almost everyday and now it's sharp and a couple of the unisons are sounding really funky. It was just fine last week.

Pianoobsession, Your post doesn't mention any details about your piano. What is the brand, model, age, overall condition? It's possible that your dissatisfaction relates more to the overall tone (affected by hammer condition, action regulation, soundboard and strings, etc.) than to the tuning.

Another thought.

Just yesterday, I tuned a piano in conditions that were very noisy. (Probably not to the customer, it never is to them.) :-) The lady was running hair driers, pounding nails into walls for pictures, running washing machines, driers, dish washers, opening and closing doors slamming them every other minute. I asked for quiet explaining why and yet, she continued making noise as if it didn't matter to her. That made it very difficult to hear and do a nice job of tuning. Noise is noise to us regardless of how little it may seem to the customer and can be very distracting when listening intently.

Under these conditions, a good tuning becomes almost impossible so we do the best we can do. That's all we can do. That probably isn't the case with you but, anything is possible.

Weather conditions change constantly here in Michigan too. A piano tuned a couple of months ago will be considerably sharp right now. My guess would also be a weather change.

On the other hand, it may be voicing too. When you call him, describe to the best of your ability what it sounds like. Bright? Harsh? Softer and louder in some areas? Tinny? Not playing right? If so, What does it feel like? Consistent? Not consistent? It may need regulation too. What does it sound like? We go A LOT by the customers description as to just exactly what we look for on the return trip.

That brings to mind the irony of the whole house humidifiers whose brand name is "April Air". In Wisconsin, the dryest air of the year is in April. I saw a weather report this past April where the outside temperature was about 70 degrees but teh relative humidity was only 17%. That is soundboard cracking dry! It is the time of year before any new foliage appears and there is great danger of brush and forest fires from all the dry vegetation. One cigarette thrown out the window could cause a conflagration.

Pianos tuned during that period are often markedly flat. If a technician does what is required to tune the piano at standard pitch, the result will often be that by July, the piano will be just as sharp as it was flat in April. It is a real dilemma.

Bill, sounds like job security...not a dilemma.