Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum reccommendations for tuning intervals.

Hello everyone out there in pianoworld. Just a quick question. What's the best schedule to follow for tuning intervals for a grand piano? Every three months or every six months? How about the schedule to follow for voicing and regulation under normal playing and stable conditions?

Can you elaborate on the usage of the piano? Every piano should be tuned at least once per year, but higher usage requires more service than that.

Most are tuned twice a year and at a min as Bob mentioned. Twice a year would be after you turn the furnace on and just after you turn the air on. If you feel you would like it tuned more than that, it's your personal preference. New pianos can benefit from 3-4 tunings in the first year, this allows them to 'settle in' or acclimate to their new environment.

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A couple of hours spent playing the piano per week.

Should voicing and regulation be done at reccommended intervals as well?

The needs for regulation and voicing are different for different pianos. Some hold their regulation better than others. In my experience, hammer voicing is usually needed in two to three years the first time. On some pianos, regulation may be required in a year and for others it may be five years.

It is easier to estimate tuning intervals because they are usually the same for most pianos, you can't go wrong with every six to twelve months or even more frequently. This will depend to a large extent on climatic conditions and frequency of use.

Now that's what I call editing.

Those look like two little eyes peeking out of somewhere.

Was of no interest anyway I write too much !

Thanks ByronEnsign! Very insightful.

My question is this...how can a non technician, such as myself, tell if a piano needs regulation or voicing?

You can't really (until it gets really bad) because all things change gradually. It needs all three on a regular basis. Voicing should be done initially on a well tuned and regulated piano, to suit your taste and then touched up at tunings to keep it there. Regulation should be done on a regular basis as well but less often unless there is an overriding reason such as heavy usage.

All aspects of piano wear and change take place gradually and I always recommend that the customer set an initial baseline of performance by getting all three items taken care of (new pianos are not exempt and may need it right out of the box if not after a bit of play in time) and then keep up with the voicing during regular tuning intervals. Voicing will become less stable as the hammers wear and when the hammers need additional service (Reshaping) the piano will also need another go at the regulation.

It's like your car. You put gas in it weekly, check the tire pressure on a regular basis, change the oil because of the time or mileage since the last change, rotate the tire about twice a year, change the tires when worn out, adjust the valves at 60K miles. Talk to your tech.

"My question is this...how can a non technician, such as myself, tell if a piano needs regulation or voicing?"

Hopefully your technician will let you know.

You might find that it lacks the dynamic range capabilities that it once had. The action might not feel right, like it is 'out of sync.' It's a good idea to have a qualified, reputable technician, one experienced with and good at regulation and voicing, regulate your piano 'before' you ever hear the words, "this piano plays like a truck". In other words, try to catch it before it gets that bad.

If the hammers need voicing, you might find the dynamic range of the tone lacking. There might be too much percussion in the tone or it might lack the ability to play pianissimo, fortissimo, and everywhere in between expressively.

If the piano was voiced when it was new and it sounded good to you, chances are after a year or two the hammer felt will have compressed to the point where more voicing will be needed to restore the desired tone. Ideally, it should be maintained regularly by the tech but often times it's not.

The best interval? Every two weeks ... for the tuner. 'Haven't had any takers yet, but I keep recommending it.

yep ! before it get bad.

But to me tuning is at the same time the most important for tone quality, and the less important in term of wear or damage.

Les brings up an important point here - if you settle for two tunings a year, they need to be done in the right time frame, too.

Say, you live in a climate with the year clearly divided into winter, spring, summer and fall, you'd really have to time the tunings well. Les' approach is an universal good one - tuning the piano slightly after a major change in humidity/temperature will give your piano a decent shot at staying in tune up until the next tuning.

If a customer orders both his tunings just before a major change in humidity and/or temperature), chances are his piano will be out of tune for 11 months of the year.

Here, in Mexico City, there are only two seasons,: wet and dry. So I advise my clients to schedulle tunings 3 to 4 weeks after the season changes.

(That way I only have to work in july and january and have hollidays the rest of the year!)