Piano Tuning

The most common question is "How often does my piano need to be tuned?"  A piano goes out of tune when the piano is subjected to minor heat and humidity changes.  Moving the piano does not hurt the tuning. It is the change in atmosphere that affects the dimentions of the case parts.  Pianos go sharp in higher humidity and flat in lower humidity.

In residential use a piano should be tuned at the change of seasons.  Four tunings a year is ideal.  If the temperature and humidity are kept constant through external devices such as a humidifier in the winter months and air conditioning in the summer, the need for tuning can be minimized and reduced to twice a year. 

In professional use the piano needs to be tuned more frequently. Usually this occurs because of increased use or an institutional atmosphere such as an auditorium that may have the heat and air conditioning turned on or off frequently.  For high level professional use the piano may need to be tuned daily to insure that it is in perfect tune for each instance of concert or recording work.

 
Regulation and Voicing

The piano has thousands of parts.  Each of the 88 keys has approximately 27 adjustments to control the feel of the action.  Each key must travel the same distance to the keybed, the hammer must travel the same distance to the string and the damper must be timed to lift at the same moment for each of the keystrokes.  These adjustments have to be done individually for each note but the end result is an evenly responsive action throughout the keyboard.

Proper regulation can adjust the speed of the action, make it more controllable and responsive and adjust the weight of each key.  In some cases the piano may have to have the friction of the action corrected prior to regulation.  This may involve rebuilding of the action parts.  There are really very few bad actions, usually just bad regulation and maintenance.

Voicing involves manipulation of the hammers to change the texture of the felt hammer covering.  This in turn will change the development of the tone.  Pianos can be voiced to be bright or mellow in timbre or can be voiced down or up to change the overall volume.