Our piano's dealer/technician/tuner was here today making a few action adjustments on the grand piano we bought in mid-December. While he was here I mentioned that something was getting a little bit "out" in the octave and a half or so right below middle-C.

He spent a few minutes checking and tweaking down there with a mute and tuning wrench but in the end said he had just very slightly retuned a couple of strings. Nothing that most people would even notice.

Maybe it's just the power of expectation but getting home after work and playing through some of my usual songs the whole piano sounds sweeter and with a more solid "core" to a lot of chords. All from just a couple notes being microscopically tweaked.

Is there something special about that register? Do certain ranges of notes matter more than others for being dead solid perfect in tuning? I really don't think my brain is fooling my ears, that little nudge got the piano back sounding as good or better than when we first got it.

Not having one of my F#'s playing stiff any more doesn't hurt either!

That area's bridge is near the center of the soundboard, so it is the area where the tuning is most affected by humidity changes.

Chances are he tweaked a few notes, from about A3 to wherever the treble bridge ended. This time of year that area usually slips flat due to dry air, however here in Florida, when a customer decides to open doors and windows because it's 80 degrees like it was today, the middle can go sharp with excess humidity. So humid = sharp, dry = flat.

Yes, that's about where he was working. I noticed started checking at the bottom of the treble bridge which on my piano is B2? (the 27th key). I think he went up a little ways past B3 to about the D.

So that's notes that are right in the heart of the chords, plus it is the middle of the soundboard so it's both important and likely to need a touch-up.

I've been just living it up this evening. When I play guitar or mandolin I've got good ears and bad technique so I'm always hearing stuff that's my own fault. Piano's very cool in that if the intonation sounds off, the tuner just comes and fixes the instrument! What a luxury. It's a lot easier than learning to play a guitar without squeezing it out of tune.

Brent:

Well, the middle of the keyboard is where most notes are played, so problems there are noticed more too. But also there is what I call the "raisin in the rabbit stew" factor (or the t___ in the punch bowl.) It only takes a bit of foulness in something otherwise beautiful to ruin it.