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TUNING

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Why do pianos go out of tune?

 

Piano strings change pitch for two primary reasons: the initial stretching and settling of strings when the piano is new, and soundboard movement due to humidity, temperature, and barometric-pressure variation.

 

With new pianos, the pitch drops quickly for the first couple of years as the new strings stretch and wood parts settle.  So it’s very important to maintain any new piano at the proper pitch during this period.  (Most piano manufacturers recommend three to four tunings the first year, and at least two per year after that.)

 

As for atmospheric changes:  When the relative humidity goes up, the wooden soundboard swells, increasing its crowned shape and stretching the piano’s strings to a higher pitch, especially in the middle octaves.  When the humidity goes down, the soundboard flattens out, lowering tension on the strings and causing the pitch to drop.  The dry-season drop tends to exceed the wet-season rise, so the net result is a drop in pitch each year the piano isn’t serviced.

 

Your piano was designed to sound its best when tuned to the international pitch standard, A–440 (the A above middle C, which vibrates at 440 cycles per second).

 

But many older pianos have aged to the point where it’s dangerous to try bring them back up to that standard pitch.  It risks straining the pegs, warping the soundboard, and stretching the strings — even to the breaking point.

 

Unless it’s absolutely necessary for your older piano to accompany other instruments that can’t easily be tuned to match it, it’s usually best to keep it tuned to the lower frequencies it’s become acclimatized to.

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PITCH  RAISING / LOWERING

 

If a significantly out-of-tune piano must be brought back up (or, less frequently, lowered down) to A–440, there is a special technical process in which each of the piano’s approximately 220 strings is raised (or lowered) to its correct average tension level.  (Extreme pitch changes may require two separate pitch adjustments.)  Only then can the piano be accurately tuned.

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TONE  VOICING

 

Every piano has its own unique sound.  One might be described as “glassy,” another as “warm.”  One might have a “full singing” tone, and yet another sounds “tinny” or “thin.”  Although the original design establishes the basic character of your piano’s tone, your technician can modify it to better suit your taste or restore its original tone if it has deteriorated with age through a highly technical process called voicing.

 

How often voicing is needed depends upon the piano’s usage and audience. Pianos in concert halls and recording studios often receive minor refinement of the voicing before each performance.  But these are exceptional circumstances.  A home piano may or may not need some initial voicing to customize it to the owner’s taste, then once every one to five years to maintain its tone.  But many people never feel a need to have their pianos voiced and enjoy them every bit as much.

 

A few do-it-yourself tone-modification techniques:

• ROOM  ACOUSTICS — Hard shiny surfaces such as windows and bare floors reflect high frequencies, making a piano sound bright and loud.  High ceilings or large adjoining rooms add resonance.  Rugs and upholstered furniture soften tone and add warmth.

• THE  LID — Both grands and verticals sound louder and brighter if the lid is opened.

• YOU — Your ears are sensitive, and will perceive sound differently if you have spent all day in a quiet office or at a loud construction site.

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ACTION  REGULATION

 

Regulation is the adjustment of the mechanical aspects of a piano to compensate for the effects of wear; the compacting and settling of cloth, felt, and buckskin; and the dimensional changes in wood and wool parts due to changes in humidity.

 

If your instrument displays a lack of sensitivity or a decreased dynamic range, or if you notice that the keys are not level (some higher or lower than the rest), or if the touch is uneven, or the keys are sticking, the need for regulation is indicated.

 

No amount of practice can compensate for a poorly maintained action.  Poor legato touch, chord playing where all notes of the chord don’t speak clearly, a gradual loss of subtlety in phrasing, and an inability to execute quick passages or note repetitions evenly may be the fault of the piano — not the player.

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HUMIDITY  CONTROL

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Your piano is made primarily of wood, a versatile and beautiful material ideal for piano construction — but greatly affected by humidity.  Seasonal and even daily changes in humidity cause wood parts to swell and shrink, affecting tuning stability and touch.  Extreme swings in humidity can eventually cause wood to crack and glue joints to fail, even the finish to crack.

 

Other materials in your piano are also affected by changes in moisture content in the air.  The many felt and leather parts in your piano’s action can change dimension, affecting regulation and friction, or stiffness of the touch.  Very high humidity can even create condensation on metal parts such as strings, tuning pins, and hardware, eventually causing them to rust.

 

As the moisture level in the soundboard increases during periods of high relative humidity, the crown expands and pushes the bridge harder against the strings.  The strings are stretched more tightly and the piano’s pitch rises.  Because this increase in crown is greater in the center of the soundboard than at the edges, the pitch rises more in the middle octaves than in the bass or treble registers.

 

During periods of low relative humidity, the soundboard shrinks, reducing the crown and decreasing pressure against the strings.  The pitch drops, again with the greatest effect noticeable in the center of the keyboard.  When relative humidity returns to its previous level, the average pitch of all the strings will return to normal, although the exact pitch of individual strings will be slightly changed from their original settings.  Thus, a piano only will stay in tune as long as the relative humidity level in the air surrounding the soundboard remains constant.  Extreme humidity changes require making greater changes in string tension to bring the piano into tune.  This upsets the equilibrium between the string tension and the piano frame, and the piano never becomes stable.

 

Keeping the humidity level around your piano as constant as possible will help it stay in tune longer, as well as slow such damage as soundboard cracks, loose tuning pins, and glue-joint failures.  Some simple things you can do:

• Position your piano away from areas where it would be exposed to extremes of temperature and humidity such as heating and cooling vents, stoves, doors, and windows.

• Direct sunlight is especially damaging.  Try to avoid it.

• If your home is not well insulated, an interior wall is preferable to an outside wall.

 

There are a variety of electronic-controlled dehumidifier products available to fit all sizes of uprights and grands.  Ask your piano technician to advise you of the best choices for your unique circumstances.

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PIANO  MAINTENANCE

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BASIC  CARE  STEPS

• Locate your piano to avoid direct sunlight as well as excessive temperature and humidity changes.

• Before playing, always wash your hands to prevent staining the sides and tops of the keys.

• Keep the keyboard lid closed whenever the piano is not in use.

• If you have a grand piano, follow the advice of your technician as to whether or not you need to keep your strings covered with felt or the top lid completely shut when not in use.

• When dusting, to avoid scratching, always remove dust first with a damp cloth or feather duster before wiping with a dry cloth.

• Never place plants or drinks on a piano, because spillage and condensation can cause major damage.

• ​To prevent scratches, never set objects on your piano without a soft cloth or felt pad.

• Avoid placing vinyl or rubber in contact with the piano.

• Make sure that piano lamps, etc. have a felt-padded base.

• Avoid touching piano strings with fingers or damp cloths.

• Delicate parts inside your piano should be cleaned only by your technician.

• Use polish sparingly, if at all.  Better to be safe than sorry!  Check with your piano technician before applying any polish if you’re in doubt.

• Avoid aerosol products.

• Read labels carefully, and avoid any product containing silicone.

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CLEANING  YOUR  KEYS

• Piano keys eventually become soiled with accumulated oil and dirt from fingers.  To clean your white keys, use a soft cloth dampened with water and a small amount of mild soap.  Avoid solvents.  Make sure the cloth is thoroughly wrung out, and wipe the keys back-to-front rather than side-to-side, so excess moisture and dirt will not seep down the sides of the keys.  Clean only a few keys at a time, drying immediately with a clean cloth.

• Ivory keys are porous, and excessive moisture can penetrate and loosen their glue joints.  Also, a dirty or brightly colored cleaning cloth can transfer stains into the ivory.

• Clean sharps in the same manner, but use a separate cloth for painted wooden sharps to avoid black stains on the white keys.

 

FINISH  REPAIRS

 

Dents, scratches, and chips sometimes occur, spoiling the appearance of an otherwise perfect finish.  Such damage can usually be corrected by a specialist in “finish touch-up.”  Your piano technician may perform this service, or can offer a referral.

 

DUSTING  YOUR  PIANO

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Dust is very abrasive, and can scratch the finish if wiped off with a dry cloth.  To avoid scratching, dust the piano lightly with a feather duster.  Alternatively, wipe lightly with a soft damp cloth to pick up the dust, followed immediately with a dry cloth.  The cloths should be soft cotton such as flannel, because coarse or synthetic fabrics can scratch some finishes.  Wring out the damp cloth thoroughly so it leaves no visible moisture on the surface.  Don’t spritz the piano and then wipe!  Dampen the cloth.

 

To avoid creating swirl marks, always wipe with long straight strokes rather than circular motions.  Wipe with the grain for natural wood finishes, or in the direction of the existing sheen pattern for solid-color satin finishes.

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Because some exposed parts inside your piano are fragile, it’s best to let your technician clean these areas.

 

CLEANING  THE  FINISH

 

To remove smudges and fingerprints, first dust using the damp/dry cloths as above.  If heavier cleaning is necessary, dampen your cloth with a small amount of mild soap solution. ​

 

TO  POLISH  OR  NOT

 

Modern finishes are designed to do their job without the additional aid of polishes or waxes.  In most cases, a piano finish is best maintained by simply keeping it clean and avoiding exposure to direct sunlight, extremes of temperature and humidity, and abrasion.  When in doubt, call and ask for your piano technician’s expert advice.

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Before using polish on your piano, be sure it is actually necessary and beneficial. In general, most manufacturers recommend against using polishes because of the potential for damage to the finish and contamination of other parts of the instrument.  Polish should never be used on lacquer pianos!

 

Can’t say it enough times:  Better to be safe than sorry!  Check with your piano technician before applying any polish.

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STICKY–KEY  REPAIR,  KEY–TOP  REPAIR,  PEDAL  ADJUSTMENT

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Faulty, damaged, or sticking keys can be easily repaired or replaced.  Why put up with the annoyance?  Adjustment can be made to the “touch point” of piano pedals and faulty pedal mechanisms can be repaired.

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MAJOR  REPAIRS  AND  RESTORATION

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Today, many high-quality older pianos exist in various stages of wear.  Because it happens so gradually, this wear often goes unnoticed, leaving many pianos operating far below their potential.  In extreme cases, some older pianos are simply left unplayed because of their poor condition.

 

Tracy has extensive experience repairing, reconditioning, and completely rebuilding both uprights and grands.  But not all pianos are worth the expense of reconditioning or rebuilding.  You should consider the following factors:

• The overall condition of the piano.  Can it really be restored to original or acceptable condition or has it deteriorated beyond repair?  Pianos subjected to severe fire, flood, or moving damage may not be repairable.

• The quality, size, and type of the piano.  Low-priced, small pianos of poor design have limited potential.  If the rebuilt piano would not be capable of meeting your performance needs, it might be better to replace it with one of better design.

• The sentimental value of the piano.  Was it your childhood piano or did it belong to a loved one?  Is this unduly influencing your objective judgment?

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