How often does my piano need to get tuned?

Most manufacturers recommend that your piano be tuned at least twice a year.  With frequent and vigorous usage, it is not uncommon for the piano to need to be tuned every three to 4 months.  Quality and age of the piano also effect the stability of the tuning as do environmental conditions.  Newer pianos can need up to 4 tunings a year due to the fact that the strings have to stretch while the wood adapts to the pressure.

Why does my piano go out of tune?

Your pianoʼs soundboard is made of wood and this wood expands and contracts with the humidity changes, thus disrupting the stability of the tuning.  Another major contributing factor is the condition and quality of the pinblock.  The pinblock is a multilayered plank of wood which serves to hold the tuning pins firmly in place.  Over time the pinblock can deteriorate causing loose tuning pins to wander from their intended position.  Generally speaking pianos tend to go sharp in the summer as the wood expands with humidity and flat in the winter as it contracts in the drier conditions. Environment also comes into play.  Geographical locations where the humidity is excessive, for example, can cause the tuning to go out more frequently.

What kind of maintenance should I expect for my piano besides tuning?

Every 5 to 10 years a cleaning is needed for the piano action, strings and interior.  A regulation is needed every 25 to 30 years, in which micro-adjustments to the action and keys are made to give playing an optimal touch.  Youʼll know youʼre due for a regulation when soft, expressive playing becomes impossible and when you experience an unevenness of touch from note to note.  It is also common for keys to need rebushing if the playing of the notes feels wobbly.  At 50 to 75 years stings become brittle and stretched with age and breakage can occur.  Bass strings may become dirty in the copper windings and produce a dull, lifeless tone.  Beyond this point it is likely that major structural repairs will be needed ie bass and treble bridge repairs, soundboard replacement due to excessive cracks, pinblock replacement due to wood deterioration, restringing and refinishing.  It is at this point that the owner must decide what is the better investment: to fix the old piano or purchase a new one?  If you are unsure of the pianoʼs monetary worth, its brand prestige and of its overall condition, I will be happy make that assessment for you.

What is the ideal place in the home to keep a piano?

The best place to keep your piano is against an interior wall.  It is recommended that you not store your piano next to an exterior wall, door or window as that could expose it to direct sunlight and/or humidity changes.

Can moving a piano cause it to go out of tune?

Simply rolling a piano across the room will not affect the tuning.  However, loading it up into a moving truck and transporting it from one place to another will.  If moving the piano to an alternate location ie outside the house, expect the piano to need a tuning.

What forms of payment do you accept?

I accept cash, check, CC, Venmo, Zelle and PayPal

My friend/family member/church etc wants to give me a free piano.  This seems too good to be true.  What should I do?

If it seems too good to be true, then it probably is.  I tell many of my customers to avoid free pianos like the plague.  In some cases things can work out, but more often than not there is a reason this person is giving it away.  A majority of these pianos are riddled with problems, from bad pinblocks that form loose tuning pins and unstable tunings to structural damage that can produce lifeless tone and buzzing sounds, sticking keys along with the need for a myriad of other repairs.  And to top it all off, the piano probably hasn’t been tuned in about 20+ years and could use two to three tunings just to get the thing back up to A-440 pitch, that is if the rusty strings don’t all break in the process!  Then you have the piano moving to worry about which isn’t necessarily cheap either.  When it is all said and done, the amount of money you can potentially spend to get the piano playable coupled with the moving costs, can far exceed the piano’s worth.  That money is usually better spent going towards a newer, better quality piano.  Think before you make the leap.  And if you are considering, definitely hire a qualified technician to check things out before proceeding.