I bought the piano in June. Original owner sold the piano because they were moving from a manion to a condo in another city and they got a new upright for their new place. I was looking for a grand that was good enough shape for a student. I was told it was an awesome piano and I certainly thought so, but I have student's ears. It always sounded great to me. They told me to get it tuned every two years and to get it tuned after you turn the heat on in the fall. Today the tuner just left. I don't know anything about piano tuning but when I play the keys around the 15 white keys from the high end, it was so crisp, clear, beautiful, and rich that it reminds me of a soprano that could break a glass with her voice. All I can say is how can anyone not love a piano. Even though I only know little tunes, playing the little tunes on the piano is a priceless gift.

A fresh tuning is wonderful, isn't it?!

I love a freshly tuned piano.

And, given the way your post started, I was worried this was going to turn into a horror story so I'm glad it wasn't that!

Two years is pretty long between tunings so you might want it tuned a little more frequently than that!

Thanks for the tip. So I guess once a year. I guess a good tuning is when your mistakes sound good to your ears.

I would love a tuning. Somewhere I saw someone talking and kissing and more with their car on tv and it made me think you can talk to a piano like a plant. This is for the thread where you said you didn't have a pet, Michael. My cat has taken to tell me not to play piano recently. I listen to her more or less because they seem to take care of their owners.

(Practicing)

Michael, did you record your play before and after tuning? I did the tuning back in July, posted the before and after recordings in the technician forum. Some said it was so different after tuning; some said it still didn't sound right...

Glad to hear that you like the way your piano is tuned!

Wish4Thing-I know when my cat doesn't want me to play .. she hears something and requests me to stop by rushing into the piano room and walks across my hands. I know the difference between her playing on the piano and her trying to stop me form playing.

Yes, once a year would be the standard.

hehe, I was dreading the same thing!

My acoustic, when freshly tuned, sounds to me like wax dripping down a candle that has been lit for a while. Nice, soft, smooth and warm to the touch.

My only experience was that when I went to a piano store and asked if I could play a grand for the first time most of the grands sounded terrible and difficult to play. I pointed to a string of Yamaha grands and the saleman said I could play one. It was easy to play, even though I had only ever played a Clavinova which is easier than an acoustic piano, and sounded pretty good. Then when I went to the piano store that I had asked them to help me find me a student quality grand, they said it would take some time to find one. A month later I went back and the sales person was gone. The new sales person said they knew of a piano that was privately owned and was a beautifuly privately owned piano being sold by them - and it was known to be a beautifuly sounding piano. I phoned the person and I said I would take it. The owner said no, no, no, you have to hear it. The reason I didn't need to hear the piano is it was way, way, way, more piano than I expected to buy or find. So I went over to the manion and saw this beautiful grand piano in a beautiful livingroom larger tham the property my shack was sitting on. Having heard the piano by testing the piano with the only music I knew I could play was Fletcher piano book 1, little tune 4 measure long tunes. I played those tunes how mozart would have played them in his crib. I ran to the bank and got the money as fast as I could and rushed to the person selling the piano because I thought the piano was so beautiful sounding. I have had the piano since June and nothing has ever changed my mind it wasn't anything but awesome. I did think however that maybe the tuner would say something but he seemed surprised when I removed the valvet piano cover and raised the top for him to tune the piano. Of course, the fact the I live in a shack with holes in the walls, could make any piano look good in the surrounds.

When I got the piano in June and at some point since then I noticed that the last 5 keys at the high end seemed a little off, but the fact they were off didn't seem at all odd because I played a little violin and the very thin high e could easily be not in tune or had to be tuuned often so I didn't worry about that fact and the fact that in was in a new surroundings. When I played those keys at the high end of the piano afte the tuning, they were awesome and in tune so I was happy that my only worry has vansihed.

But I do like you commnet ---> self-taught, thus self-struggling a lot

Thanks for the heart touching story! I'm sure you can make your piano sing even more beautifully in the new year!

It took me a while to admit to myself, that despite the price difference, it was an accoustic piano that I yearned for. Hubby was surprisingly easily to convince - all the salesperson in the first piano store had to do was play the same piece on the highest end digital piano they had (the biggest and most expensive Yamaha at that time) and the cheapest accoustic and he actively quelched any guilt I felt for taking the more expensive road.

Then we got a recommendation for a piano store. Before we headed there, I looked at their web page and so it - a light wooded Petrof. I was smitten.

But when we went to the store, the sales person neither steered to it immediately, nor did he steer me away from it. First he played me four different pianos with *very* different types of sound, asking me what kind of sound I favoured. (Did I mention that it was a *huge* store? They had more than a hundered of new and used pianos there.) Did I like soft and romantic, perfect for Schubert or Chopin? More clear and vibrant? Once we got the sound I liked for, we looked for pianos in that category. *Then* we campe up to the beauty. It didn't sound as beautiful as it looked. It sounded much, much better. The fact that it had hardly been played, was in perfect condition and came at a fair price helped.

The piano came tuned and in the price included was a re-tuning two month after buying. I intended to tune it after a year, but a real life desaster prevented it and it took 1 1/2 for the next tuning.
After the first year, I tought a tuning would to the piano good - hubby claimed it was still in perfect condition.
Shortly before it was tuned, it felt to me as if I was chewing on aluminum foil - hubby claimed that he was just beginning to notice that it was slightly out of tune.

Strangely enough, the tuner agreed with him... either I am overly sensitive or they are less sensitive than ordinary....

Or maybe it is just that I know my piano so well. I know how its sound changes with the humidity and the temperature. Not fully out-of-tune when there are drastic changes in humidity or temperature - just a bit different. I love the responsiveness of an accoustic instrument.

When I was a young man I remember telling people that if they got to know me, they would understand me better. The people I was with said no. You are not like anybody we know, and we know lots of people and we have known you a long time.

Fifty years later, I know I understand the people here that are like me when they speak and think I do.