Hi forum,

I had my piano tuned about two months ago. I noticed afterwards that the bass strings were not in tune at all. They sounded exactly as they used to. It looks to me like the guy didn't even touch them. The problem is I didn't pay attention to that or else I would have asked the tuner. Does anyone know if it is standard procedure to leave the bass strings the way they were?

Hi StanSteel

No it is not standard practice to do this.

A few considerations before pointing a finger at the tuner. Did you notice this immediatley after the tuner left? If so contact him he could genuinely have overlooked the bass notes. Everyone has a bad day sometimes.

If the high treble is also out of tune perhaps he only tuned the center of the keyboard compass in which case I would also want an explanation and a remedy from the tuner. Some unethical tuners would take this shortcut if they figure you are a beginner who would not make use of the outer extremities of the keyboard. If you feel this is the case consider looking for a new tuner. This happened to me about twelve years ago and I assumed it was my hearing at fault. It took me a while to figure it out. Thankfully I now have a great tuner.

If you only noticed it after a period of time consider that something may have happened environmentally or structually to your piano which is not the tuners fault. Has the piano been moved or exposed to some other drastic humidity or temperature change. Moving a piano mere inches on a slighlty uneven surface can affect the tuning, even if only on one side of the piano.

Perhap a tech on the list would be able to add more.

Take care
Brian Trudgeon

Hi Stan, Brian is correct, ALL strings should have been tuned, however aside from listening to them, or watching the tuning process, one would not know whether all notes were tuned or not. (You said it didn't LOOK like they were tuned). My suggestion is to ask the technician in a friendly non-accusing way to check the piano for tune, that something doesn't sound quite right. As Brian said, other things could cause your problem, but if your technician has the proper attitude, he will welcome the chance to see your piano again. In all fields call backs represent information. If we don't hear from customers after tuning, we can only assume these folks are satisfied with our work, so the customer is doing a disservice to himself and the tuner by saying nothing. How the technician handles a complaint is the real mark of high level service. Let us know how it works out. PNO2NER

I started to paraphrase, but decided to simply offer PNO2NER's post again as a quote, as it is an excellent response to your dilemma.

Excellent advice, and covers both the customer and tech's positions with the best attitude, instead of imagining what the situation is, and thinking the worst. Matter of fact, I think it shows pno2ner's attitude as a conscientious piano tech and person, I wish more people handled situations similarly!