Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner How long does your piano stay in tune ?

(sorry if this is on the wrong forum ! - I'm relatively new here - perhaps the powers-that-be may want to move it to the piano forum - I just wanted opinions from piano players )

In a recent thread I stated that as a cellist I find one of the great adavantages of piano playing is that you don't have to tune it evety day - BUT_ you have to put up with the state of tuning until it's tuned again!

I came back to serious playing last year - had the piano tuned by our long term regular man - but oh dear - I had to get him back and even then it wasn't right... problems with a cold winter and central heating problems resulted in a quality upright sounding fit for an East-End honky tonk sesssion (remember Flash Harry in the St Trinians films ??)

- so we appointed a new man end of March this year -- he did a sterling job and also spent three hours on the 'regulation' mechanism...

thing is - it's now late May and I'm already thinking it sound 'out' - ok as a former keen cellist I was always listening to pitch and adjustign accordingly - I accept there has to be a degree of desensistisation - equal temparament is fine providing it stays equal ---

I'm keen to know from pianists (hence the posting on THIS forum) :

- how often do you have a tuning
- when after the tuning do you notice sourness
ie how long is one tolerant to this

- and perhaps in conjunction with the above - how
many hours a day is your piano played

PS/FYI - I play 1-2 hours today and my teacher tactfully refers to me as a "strong" player (I'm not a 'small' person and I do tend to make everything sound like Rachmaninov !)

I have mine tuned about every four to six months which usually catches it before it really NEEDS it. I practice between 3-5 hours a day and am a "gentle" player

I have my piano tuned every 6 months. It's a new instrument, and with the Dampp-chaser installed it stays very stable through out the year. By following this schedule, I am able to keep the piano in relatively good tuning before it sounds nasty.

Like Frycek, I play and practice about 1 to 2 hours a day with sometimes more on the weekends. I am not a forceful player, but can put out the power when needed.

John

I have my piano tuned about every six months. It is just beginning to go out at about that time. It is a relatively new Yamaha grand. I play two or three hours a day, and I think of myself as a relatively robust player.

Tomasino

It depends on how you play. If you play it rarely and gently, less. If you are at a professional level, it is out after one program.

Ironically, I just finished tuning mine today. This was my first self-tuning, and I plan on doing it about 6-8 times a year... maybe more if it needs it. I am going to keep the lever out, however, year round to shape up bad notes daily. Simple... knock one out, tune it!

2 times a year isn't enough, in my opinion

about every six months. i used to be able to deal with it being out of tune a lot more, but then i decided to major in music. surrounded by a lot of tuned pianos makes my piano sound like crap very easily....

Tim, I live in the same area as you and I have noticed my pianos going more out of tune over the past 2-3 weeks, my grand especially. I have them tuned every 6 months but at the last tuning decided to go for every 4 as I use them all every day for teaching and playing. I do think that some people notice tuning problems more than others. As a string player your ear is probably quite sensitive. I think my grand only stays completely in tune for a coulpe of weeks after tuning. For some reason the 2 uprights hold better, I don't know why this is. I will have to tolerate it until the next tuning at the end of August.

Mine stayed in tune for about 8 minutes. That's why I don't have one anymore. :p

I just bought a Yamaha T121
It should come this weekend.

I will probably have it tuned every 5 monthes.


Debussy20

It depends on the weather. As the seasons change, so does the temperature and humidity in the house -- and the piano goes out of tune when these change. Forced hot air heat really dries out the air; you should expect the piano to go out of tune once the heat has been on for a while. I set my thermostat lower than usual this winter and my piano stayed closer to being in tune than usual. Same in the summer -- if I run the air-conditioner most of the time, the piano stays in better tune. If you want your piano to stay in tune for a long time, you need to control humidity. Please don't hold your piano tuner responsible for changes due to humidity and temperature variation.

One of the disadvantages of being a string player is that you have to tune your instrument every time you play it.

One of the advantages of being a string player is that you can tune your instrument every time you play it.

I had my first piano tuned five times during the first year. Thereafter, four times the second year, and three times a year for the next two years.

My current piano is new. It was tuned in February and again in April. Next tuning will be July, most likely, just before an in-home recital. I probably will have it tuned three to four times a year when it settles. The current wisdom seems to be that frequent tuning of a new piano helps assure future stability.

Pianists learn to live with pianos that remain in tune for only short periods of time after each tuning. What does surprise me is that some pianists let their pianos go badly out of tune and seem to be able to ignore that fact.
Regards,

My piano hasn't been tuned yet this year. It's starting to get pretty out. I need to find some funds, maybe I'll drag it down the high street and busk under the bridge?

Yeah, I am going to phone my tuner any day/week now. In fact I'll probably do it soon after submitting this post. And then start saving for a whole new piano, my old Waldstein is getting a bit old now, not helped by the fact that I'm a pretty heavy player. I know it's bad but I just love playing really loud.

I tune, regulate and voice my own pianos, so I can afford to not wait until the change is discernible. Typically, I will tune them every month....maybe fine tune would be a better description at that interval. I regulate them as I feel the need, same with voicing. I typically practice about three hours a day. The force with which I play is correlated directly to the piece I am playing.

I generally tune mine every six months, but that has changed with my new piano. Right now it's been tuned twice since November, and it will be tuned again on Thursday. I too play for at least a couple of hours every day, and since I've started to do accompanyment, it pays to have the piano in good tune if I even think I'm going to be practicing with someone else at my house.

Typically every three to at most four months.

It is subject to some variation in humidity and temperature. And it gets a lot of use.

I am also a string player and I am sensitive to tuning issues. Tuning is relatively cheap and is worth it to ehance my enjoyment.

The first thing to go is a few unisons in the middle section. As soon as that happens I call the tuner.

I beleive that insufficient maintenance is a false economy and degrades the pleasure derived from something we spend hundreds of hours doing.

Adrian