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I get my piano tuned 3 or so times a year. Once, within a week of tuning, just one note really bothered me.
Called my tuner , 2 days later he arrived, solved my issue. No charge of course.

Dear Piano World friends,

Thank you very much for your supportive replies which confirm my own reaction to this disappointing lack of response.
I think that my tuner would have received the email as he always replies promptly when I request a tuning.

We have been experiencing very warm humid weather in Auckland and probably this has contributed to this particular issue.

Best regards,

Robert.

Robert, if you didn't live so far away from my location (on the other side of the world), I'd come over and tweak your wayward unisons for free.

In all honestly, I've only had one piano technician to tune any of my pianos, and she was the best of the best, Sally Phillips. Although I'm in the process of learning to tune and service my own pianos, and I have tuned a few other pianos for free for friends or co-workers, Sally's tuning was superior to my tunings, and I learned a few things just by watching her work.

And, other than tweaking a few unisons here and there, her tuning on my Yamaha C7 still sounds good, 2 years later. Now that is what I call a stable tuning!!

A piano tech's job is not an easy one, and I imagine some piano owners can be really discriminating. But when you pay the tech to tune your piano, you want it to sound good and hold its tuning as long as possible.

With that said, a really good piano technician, like Sally Phillips and others, earn their money, big time!

And, with that said, a really good technician wouldn't/shouldn't mind coming back and doing touch-ups for free, within a reasonable amount of time.

And, while I'm on a roll here, Sally is not only a superior concert piano technician, but she is one of the nicest people you will ever meet.

Rick

How many pianos do you have experience with or play on a regular basis?

I completely agree with Keith and terminaldegree.

Musicpassion, I've owned 5 pianos, 3 being grand piano and played 9 or 10 on a regular basis. My tuning on Saturday took about 40 minutes, the RPT uses a digital device that shows the note being tuned and at what point it is in tune. I discussed this thread with him and he said that if he tuned by ear it would take substantially longer. I had a few notes in the upper end voiced as they were a little too bright for me but the action did not need to be regulated. I am happy with the service I get and because of the tuning stability we decided to change from every 4 months to every 6 months.

I think nowadays, most tuners use an ETD, but I could be wrong. Regardless, 40 minutes is rolling along at a fast pace. My conclusion is that your piano was not "out of tune" and basically needed touching up.

Just placing the tuning hammer on well over 200 tuning pins alone, and making some movement/adjustment is time consuming.

And, if your tech actually adjusted every single tuning pin, I'd say he's fast a lightening.

As long as you are happy with his/her work, that is what matters.

All the best,

Rick

Yes, it really was just a touch up, the piano was 10 cents out of tune. My RPT is fast and efficient and because of regular tuning and how stable the piano is it doesn't go really out of tune. The piano is located on an inside wall away from all drafts.

I allow 90 minutes in home -

I bought a used studio piano a few weeks ago, and yesterday it got its first tuning in 14 months. I had called the local Steinway dealer, requested contact info for a tuner they use, and called her. (She was also very helpful with advice during my search for a used piano.) She told me to expect 60-90 minutes if there were zero-to-few adjustments other than just tuning. She does use an ETD. By the 90-minute mark, she says, she's done all she can do in one visit. If more is needed, she prefers to let it settle in and return another day. Now, she's a very focused worker - although she is very pleasant, there was not much chit-chat unless she wanted to point out something about my piano. She just worked until she was finished. Right at one hour, she was finished. She had tuned, adjusted one let-off on a note that was giving me a double-strike, and used the needle-fork gizmo to treat the strike points of some middle-to-high-register hammer felts. I can't talk about stability since the tuning was yesterday, but the piano sounds beautiful. It could be my imagination, but my volume control seems slightly better in that range where she treated the felts. So far, I'm very happy with her 60-minute service.

I had my tuner here yesterday for the yearly check-up. He spent an hour and fifteen minutes on tuning and a minor regulation issue. The piano was 3/4 of a cent off, in good technical shape, and he used an ETD. The lady is now purring like a cat, and I am happy.