Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum how much does it cost to tune a piano

A lot depends on the placement situation. I tune for a Cirque show twice a week. It is parked under the stage next to a A/C vent, brought up on the elevator under the warm lights at showtime for a while and back down in front of the A/C vent. Twice per show two shows a night. I always do a full tuning. The pianist is very particular as he plays with the live band listening through a ear bud and pitch has to be right on. I charge under 100 but more than 50. String breakage is a bit extra.

Listen to this fascinating interview with Ted Sambell, who received the Golden Hammer award in 2012. He tuned for Glenn Gould, but started his career in war time England. Listen to how he describes the life of a tuner in those days. Just fascinating. I know those days are gone but it is still interesting to hear him speak about it. Maybe I should get a real job, like playing on a cruise ship or something.

http://youtu.be/1Wmp2X7lgvA

Thanks posting Teds' interview, Mark, a legendary tuner, fascinating life.

The soft pedal story reminded me of the value of having players talk about their piano before doing anything other than tuning. One piano had a magical sounding shift pedal. Not really a true piano sound, nevertheless, magical. This was because the hammers were very worn. In the normal position the piano didn't sound too good. What do you do without destroying the one aspect of the piano people loved it for. I looked after that piano for the 10 years I was there. Was I going to be the one who goes down in history for destroying the magic??? Just have to give people what they want......sometimes.
By giving people the choice of how often they get their piano tuned works out fine. Most will call every few months, some every few years. The amount of work to be done varies, so does the price. I am very insistent on pitch, knowing its value to students and musicians and how professional musicians use it. After some regular conciencious tunings, the annual pitch variation decreases over time in most pianos. Now, I rarely have to move the pitch of a piano more than a Hz or two either way every now and again. I figure I've paid my dues and earned it. Of course it took a lifetime of experience and carefully chosen circumstances to get it that way.

I refered to 4 times a year as " the wisdom of the ages". Plus stories about the 2-3 times a day for important concerts. It leaves an idea in the clients mind about ideals. It is possible to educate people with anecdotes and still give them their basic human freedoms to do as they please. Ultimately, it's their piano, not mine. I am more than willing to give them the best service they want or can afford as and when it suits them. The reason for not leaving the piano more than a year is , if I have raised the pitch, if it is tuned within a year I won't have to do it again, with the accompanying extra expense. Thats a quiet incentive, too.
I used to hear stories of tuners telling their clients off for not being more regular. What's all that about? Hopefully the world is more enlightened now

Funny you should mention real jobs and cruise ships, Mark, I gave up that company car job to play on a cruise ship.

There is still one.company here that still provides a company car for all its outside tuners. I gave that job up, too for something else that I wanted to do.

One thing that has not been mentioned in this thread yet is that tuning is not maintenance. From time to time I come across pianos that have received lots of tunings over the years but no maintenance and they play/sound lousy. The owner claims that they have taken terrific care of the instrument and have it tuned regularly.

We don't sell tunings. We sell maintenance appointments. A first appointment usually runs $228 and often includes some amount of cleaning, friction reduction, voicing, and regulating. The worse off the tuning is the less time I have to service the whole instrument.

At least once in your life hire a real piano technician so you can at least get a sense of your pianos potential. Life's to short to put up with a poorly playing instrument.

Maintenance is a very important part and, like tuning, falls within clearly defined parameters. It can be just as seasonal as tuning and I treat it as such for stability reasons.

Some tuners include action maintenance with the tuning so that it never becomes a big issue. Others I hear of will prefer to nickel and dime clients to death charging separately for every turn of the screwdriver.

If a piano is tuned regularly, no tuner could leave a low hammer line, for example, or something out of line when just a few minutes will keep it maintained., planning to refine let off and drop next time if it is tuned soon enough. Time saved on a tuning that was last done only a few months ago can be profitably spent this way. A pianos needs are self- evident at every visit.

The more often the Piano is tuned, the better service I can give. The ball stays in the customers court.

Am I foolishly giving away my hard earned skills or am I giving full service?.

It's all included in a fair price anyway, as Ryan says.

Of course, if a piano has been so neglected that full regulation has become necessary, that becomes the subject of a separate quote. But still, I will, if time allows, make an appropriate start.

Greetings,
The keywords here are "Including action maintenance with tuning", "minute", and " nickle and dime". I sell my time, and encapsulating "tuning" as a stand-alone sale helps in selling it most efficiently. An adjustment here and there is a minute here and there is a dollar here and there, I am loathe to toss them away.
It is more of a marketing decision, in that the beginning tuner has to demonstrate their abilities if they hope to get work, and those of us that have been swamped for a number of years can feed our tool kit the whole action at once.

I do better selling complete regulations if I haven't gradually removed the most egregious impediments to response. If there are several notes failing, and a general dilapidation, yes, I will make sure all notes play, but I sell them a regulation after I do the band-aid repair to get it playing. It isn't difficult, since I tell them that if there is not a night and day difference in the way their piano plays, they don't have to pay. I do have to pick my customers for this to work, but practiced professionals know the difference between night and day and I have never had to eat a job. (well, there was one 30 years ago,but I deserved it).

It is easy for any of us tuners to fall into the habit of "giving" work away. It is more difficult to make sure that it pays.
Regards,

I agree with Ed and Ryan. How foolish can we be to give away a service that only a FEW of us can provide properly to our customers? Oh, that only took 10 minutes, no charge... X 100 times of doing that.... Adds up to a lot of no charge time. Ever set down and figure it out? Try it once, you'll be amazed at how much you're giving away for free.

Another thing I wonder, is how much time does one have on his hands to set at one piano for possibly hours at a time anyway adjusting this, adjusting that, oh and, no charge...? Personally Ed, Ryan and I are all booked weeks and months ahead at a time just for tunings only. What does that include? I'm not going to get into that because that isn't my point. But I will say that I most certainly did not study my butt off and I did not get into this business to give away my time for nothing.

Most piano technicians, tuners/tooners whatever you wish to call them have NO CLUE whatsoever about how to properly run a business. Those are the ones that are generally barely making a living of around $25,000 to $35,000 a year if that! They think giving away services makes them look like some kind a hero to everyone in here. To a good business owner, it makes them look the opposite.

I wish to be paid for the tens of thousands of dollars that I have personally spent out of my own pocket learning this trade, attending classes, attending PTG functions and other things.

Those of us who have built up a huge clientele like Ed, Ryan, myself and many others don't have the time, we do not have the desire, not do we have the need to give it away. People want us. Why? Because they know when they call us, we will always be honest with them and give them good quality work. They are not calling us because we toss in a bunch of free stuff.

How much doe sit cost to have my car put in good condition ?

This is a similar question.

A good question could be : "what is a tuning" ?

How much a piano technician charge by the hour

What time window is necessary to optimize my instrument at a musical level that correspond to :

Its possibilities
My pianistic level
My budget

My first visit to a new customer will be 4 hours minimum for a decent vertical

If the customer want an ideal tone, he can call me for a second tuning in the year.

Most dont unless they are professionals.

Once enough regular tunings have been done, a piano in a decent place can stay "playeable" for a year (or much more)

Then it should be the technician job to send a reminder to the customer. The customer must be aware that the technician visit is what allow his instrument to stay in shape for decades, and that is because some time is spend out of tuning.


I for one dont worry if a customer call me after 2 years, or even 3, he will pay for the extra work, it is just known from the start, and he have a price once I see the instrument condition.
On old pianos I can even spend 4 hours every 3 or 4 years and keep the piano in shape until we decide to really repair it.

FOr instance I have seen a small Vertical build in 1955, the first time 3 years ago :
Pitch raise, tuning, all screws tightened, a few hammers placed in front of strings, the capstan screw turned, a few balance punchings, some rough regulation. took me 3 hours. (vacuuming also)

I have seen the same instrument now :
Again pitch raise (only a few Hertz that time)
No need to tighten the screw or change regulation
I sanded the hammers (they have to be changed but it will not be done since a few years)
Tuning
hammer mating
Voiced (prevoicing and evening of tone)

Took me 4 hours all in all for a good musical result.

The same situation occur with many customers. They know that beforehand, if they want "only" a tuning we agree on that before I work.

Some also have called a tuner, a colleague, and call me back because they noticed the tuning does not stay put as long.

The cost is between 2x and 3x a tuning cost. I am sure I could call any of those customers at tuning time just to remind them, they would accept to have more tunings , but I am enough occupied as it is, so I dont provide them that service, (but I am so perfect in other ways that I can support that flaw in my organisation

Both of you have invoked in image of an imagined 'typical' technician here. rxd describes a penny-pinching "nickel and dime" technician always looking to extract as much money as possible. Jerry talks of the clueless businessman who doesn't know how to value his own time.

I'd invite both of you to look at the caricature pictures you are drawing. You're using these extreme examples to paint other, reasonable, skilled and competent technicians who happen to take a different approach to their business from yourselves in a very bad light. Both examples you give are of bad technicians, but they are extremes, and do not represent the majority. There are obviously two philosophies at work here, both seem valid, there's only really a cultural difference between them. Both probably make about the same money in the long run. But in painting the opposite view in such emotive and exaggerated language does nothing to further the profession as a whole.

On a regular tuning, you charge 1;00 to 1:15 for tuning that leaves 15 minutes paid to do elsewhere on a 1:30 time frame window.

But then don't try to compete with the Japanese techs , they spend 3 hours on a visit , globally (doing some unnecessary things also, just because that is the official procedure they are supposed to follow. )

PS As a result I rarely have seen Japanese pianos with hammers all around the place or uneven wear.

My how far we have strayed from the original question. I'll take partial responsibility for that - I shouldn't have brought out the soapbox.

I wonder if we have scared off adak or if he's still debating the acoustic vs. digital decision?

You could be right, Phil. Although its purely academic any more, I haven't done home tunings for some time now ( the reason being I can't be bothered with the scheduling) but I always left the pianos the best I possibly could and if doing something that really belongs on a separate bill accomplishes that then...

I used to joke, when I was asked to play, "I'll have to charge you a separate rate for that". For me to divide up my skills in what seems to me an arbitrary way seems just as much of a joke.

There was a thread about how a concert tuning differs from a home tuning. My answer has to be, "it doesn't". The object is the same, to produce the best results, with the circumstances given. If this brings my profession into disrepute, maybe Its a good idea for me to limit my practice to working for professionals only.

This is about fees and what they include.

I also used to joke that most of my fee was for getting here and getting home. I might as well tune your piano while I'm here. Just to get across that the time spent traveling is sometimes longer than the time spent tuning. Ollie Braymer used to say. Bring your piano to me and I'll tune it for a few dollars but if you want me to come to your place...

Different rate for driving? My time is my time whatever I spend it doing. This could get ridiculous.

No we weren't Phil. I'm trying to point out, that the vast majority of piano technicians have not clue how to run a business as a business should be run. Do you think I say this from lack of experience? I've read countless books on the subject, attended countless classes. Given classes on the same topic and of course knowing hundreds of piano technicians and having talked to just as many, it becomes obvious in the course of a short conversation which ones do and which do not.

My example represents the technician that has attended dozens of courses, has read dozens and dozens of books on the subject. A technician that is continually upgrading his knowledge on the latest voicing techniques and putting that into practice. A technician that is on a regular basis doing something to upgrade his skill to a better level.

That my friend, does not represent the majority of technicians. It should but it does not. Most technicians do not bother to increase their knowledge in the piano field and many charge according to that given knowledge.

As I've said before, each technician knows their value and each one charges accordingly.--as they should.

You have to realize, not all piano owners are poor and not all of them have to have the cheapest instrument available nor do they want the cheapest tuner on the block. If that is all of the clientele that certain people can get then so be it. Maybe that's the area they live in.

I know all of the tuners in my area. I certainly wouldn't want one of the lowest ones tuning my piano! I know their quality of work and it ain't pretty!

The tuner that has the least amount of work generally charges the least amount of money. They can come within one or two days notice. That has been my experience for the past 40 + years of being in this business.

This was a question of how much does it cost to tune a piano RXD. You're thinking of the other thread...

"The vast majority"?

I know exactly what you're saying, and you've said it many times before, and I agree - technicians need to be better businessmen. The only reason I commented is that, in a discussion about charging policies, and the inclusion of general maintenance or not with a tuning appointment, you automatically seperate technicians into two types - the successful ones, who run their business like you; and the 'tooners' who are failures who not only can't run a business but don't know how to tune either.

You're obviously very good at what you do, as you seem to leave no opportunity to let us know how busy you always are. But there seems to be no room in your view just for a different way of doing things. There are choices, there are different paths to take. I'm just trying to invite you to acknowledge that there are many ways to be successful as a technician.

It must be philosophy Thursday or something!

You guys crack me up.

I'm a basically normal person with a normal piano.

I have it in mind that it costs about a hundred dollars for a tuner visit. (bonus points if you say that in a Rainman voice) Usually it is a bit more, because the DC gets new juice and padded as needed, and this or that gets adjusted.

I schedule whenever the intonation starts to sound bad, which is 3 or 4 times a year. It is likely that we are on the picky side of normal, maybe even one and a half standard deviations into the picky side.

I agree. I tune for myself and as long as the piano is not too far off, I spend my time practicing and trying to get as close to a concert tuning as I am currently capable of. Let's face it, most residential customers don't know the difference between a good tuning and a great tuning anyway. So I don't expect accolades.

According to Michael Gerber, self proclaimed Small Business Guru, and author of "The E-Myth", most small businesses fail because the owners spend too much time being technicians and not enough being entrepreneurs and managers.

I've often felt that if good piano tuners were not so much in demand and rare, it would be a different story. How many of us could stay in business if we were running a restaurant, for example? Not me, that's for sure. I would be spending too much of my time on RestaurantWorld.com! Ha ha. (Back to work)

I like that Mark RPT!!! Great points!

EDIT: I misread what Phil said so, I deleted and changed it. I wasn't trying to lump everyone into the same catatory. Good business = good quality although, that may be true. I recently ate in several restrauants. The ones that gave good quality also had excellent food. Those that had less than desireable quality, had food that was "so so."

SO, basically, what's my point? If you know how to run a business, you will be busy. You will be successful. Or at least, you should be anyway. That goes both ways on quality too. At least for a while anyway.

Growing up, I knew this horrible piano "tooner" that was one of the worst tuners around yet, he knew how to run a business. That made him one of the busiest tuners (among many) around town when I was a kid.

I tire of the questions of "how much do you charge." Call around and ask in your area if you want to know.

And, yes, I am very busy, as are many other technicians like Bob Maret. Or, Dan Silverwood. So is Ed Sutton. So is Loren DiGiorgi and lots of others that are in here.

There are simply not a lot of tuners that are good technicians and good businessman at the same time.

What some stimulation? Read the next two things.

http://freelanceswitch.com/freelance-news/commentary-analysis/give-yourself-a-raise-in-2012/

Here's one that I started quite a while back.

https://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubb...3/topic/003359/Number/0/site_id/1#import

Because we don't have "company cars" here, an issue can be the travel charge. Someone says their Prius "makes them money", simply because it gets 60 mpg. They can write off more than the cost of driving it on their taxes. That's true enough. That person drives all over gods country, not thinking of the labor cost of sitting behind the wheel.

I often get called to drive a 3 hour round trip to tune one piano. After they hear my travel charge, on top of the tuning fee, the client usually finds a local tuner instead. In the three hours behind the wheel to reach one client, I can easily tune 2 pianos here, in town. In my mind, the client needs to pay me for at least two piano tunings...maybe three ....PLUS my vehicle expense to drive up there. I allow 60 minutes drive round trip, before some type of travel charge kicks in. It's expensive to drive around. Both in labor expense, and car expense.

Mark is right. I cannot muster any interest in business classes. I'm a bit of a spoiled brat in that I've never done anything I don't want to do. I did, however, hire a business manager and a few employees for several years. I got bored, sold the business and travelled for two years. I'm now drawing a small pension from those years.

I am not a slave to my work, I let my work work for me. I've cut my workload in half and yes, I can cover the tuning somebody forgot to book. I don't charge more but there are hidden perks that can't be bought.
I can also get up in the morning and go to the south of France if it feels a bit chilly. I can equally just go back to bed. I have to stay on top of my job, however, so that I can take off almost any time I please.

Jerry, you and I know that we are different people from opposite sides of the spectrum. That never got between us before. You have chosen what you are justifiably proud of, I have let this life of freedom and abundance unfold before me. It just is.
It took me half my lifetime to find out how and the other half to learn to put it into practice.

We have done totally different things with what basically amounts to the same skill set. Don't let others force that between us.