Is this just another name for a higher level tuning than is normally done on home instruments? The type of tuning that usually only a professional pianist might want or require? What might this include that a non concert level tuning wouldn't have?

Extra time taken for meticulous attention with the skill to make that attention worth something. The term gets used pretty loosely("all our used spinets get concert tunings..."). I take it to mean that when I'm done, the tuning will be fussily accurate and stable to last through 2 hours of intense playing. No more than that,though. The warranty on the tuning ends after the last encore.

This is confusing because I have known some customers to use "concert tuning" to mean "tuned to concert pitch" (I assume they mean A-440 but those orchestras are always raising that pitch. Poor piano strings).

By the way Eric, if you warranty your tunings until the last encore, what happens if a unison begins to wander on that last encore? Do you refund 1/88th of your fee?

Well, only one string of the 3 in a unison usually drifts, so I give the hall a credit for adjusting 1 string, not one complete note! (joke joke)

It is my understanding that a “concert tuning” is, as BoseEric stated, a very detailed and meticulous tuning done by a highly skilled technician. A concert tuning is above and beyond a normal in-home tuning… as I understand it, due to the many points of detail that are addressed.

Before I started learning to tune my own pianos, I called a local piano tech to inquire about his services… he began bragging how he could tune a piano, other than a pitch raise, in 45 minutes. I figure a thorough concert tuning may well take 2, 3, or 4 hours, depending on what is done.

And, as Rich state, a near-perfect tuning can turn sour quickly if a unison drifts flat or sharp is short order.

Also, as I understand it, a concert tech can charge a higher rate for their services, like any specialist in their field. And, they are worth it…

Rick

I never use the term, it always seems pretentious to me. The real challenge in readying pianos for public concert is working around all the obstacles of performers, stage hands, arts administrators, board members, lack or miscommunication of schedules, etc. that can shift the agenda enough to limit your ability to perform your work at your best.

I do enjoy hearing a piano that I have prepared put to the test by the planets best pianists.

Most of the concerts I attend have the technician come on stage during the interval to retune a few strings. But that might be because most of the music these high-powered pianists (the likes of Daniil Trifonov, Arcadi Volodos, Yuja Wang, Lang Lang and Maurizio Pollini, to name a few I've seen in the past two years) play are high-powered stuff.....

I agree with Ed, it's not a term I use except when asked to tune for a concert, because it usually includes specific coordination of time as well as time flexibility because of stage activity, sound checks etc, some standby (performance and/or rehearsal, finding squeaks in the bench, wiping fingerprints etc. Not things that are easily transferred to a home tuning.