Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum How long should I wait before having my piano tuned?

I finally got our piano (a 48-inch Calisia upright) shipped to the US from Europe and it arrived at home two days ago.
It traveled well wrapped (by a piano company) in a wooden case which was placed in a metal container.
There was no damage to the instrument, but I can say that the humidity affected it a little because it had one sticky key. After a couple of hours at home the key stopped sticking. So my question is how long should I wait before I get it tuned? Two weeks? Three? A month? Or perhaps I should have it tuned now and then again in a month?

Two weeks will allow for humidity changes so don't wait to have your tuner scheduled to come over and get to know your piano.

All tuners are slightly different as to how they like to service a piano but on one that is new, a follow up in a month or two is always beneficial to the stability

Having imported pianos from Europe myself, I can say that you can possibly expect a long-ish acclimatization period until the instrument becomes fully stable in tuning and playing. You can count on geting it tuned a few times in the next year. Don't become alarmed if small issues such as sticking keys etc. crop up, this is all part of the process, which can take up to 18 months, but hopefully a lot less.

Jurgen is wise.

You will hear different opinions about time needed. There's no one right answer. Soundboards with light lacquer finishes need less time than with poly finishes. Thin wood needs less time than thick wood. Unfinished needs less time than finished. There is no foolproof time to wait.

For modern pianos, I usually advise 4-6 weeks but nothing's perfect. I certainly would not go LESS than 2 weeks, and only that if it's an older piano with older type finishes on the wood.

Thanks for the replies, guys, I'll call my tuner today.
BTW, this is not a new piano, we bought it 3 years ago for my son.
It will definitely need some action regulation too -- I noticed that the action feels somewhat heavier and clumsy but I suppose this has to do with the humidity it was exposed to. Anyway, I'll discuss this with the tuner and keep you posted.