How Soon to Tune?

[Richard Brekne]

> There have been times when I gave the free tuning 3 or 4 months after the
> piano was delivered. By that time, the piano is out of tune. So why don't I
> wait 3 or 4 months after the delivery to give the free tuning?  If I waited
> that long, the piano will have gone out of tune by "natural causes." In other
> words, it wasn't the move and the new environment that caused it to go out of
> tune, as much as the normal heating and cooling process of any home.

This is precisely one of the reasons I like to wait around 3 months. Settling
into a new and permanant home is more then simply recovering from the move. I
want the piano well out of tune when I come for the first service tuning. I want
the customer to have played it a good deal, started to break it in if you will. I
always tell them at delivery to make a list of anything they feel they need to
comment on, and note the key number beside their comments.

This seems to be both a succesfully policy in terms of  getting the piano off to
a good start, and a popular one which helps in efforts to "educate" the new owner
about the needs and benefits of regular service.

> When we suggest a waiting period after a move, precisely what are we
> expecting to happen while we wait?  I presumed it was in case the new home
> (for example) might have a considerably different humidity level when
> compared with the former one, as would be the case in moving to an
> airconditioned home from one that was not

This is a good question. I think we all expect that the piano will adjust to the
new environment, and that this will cause some movement in the tuning,
regulation, and perhaps affect the piano in other ways as well. Another thing we
should expect is that the piano gets used, and that after a period of initial use
it will require service regardless of the climatic conditions. Providing this
service as part of the purchase is a good policy in my opinion. Rarely do I find
that a piano is in urgent need of tuning or regulation after 2 - 4 weeks,
assuming its had adequate attention in the shop / store. In those cases where a
customer feels otherwise, I always "go the extra mile" and provide this "extra"
visit as well. There is lots of good P.R. in this practice, and it goes a very
long way indeed to averting problems that sometimes occur in the delivery of any
new piano.

Richard Brekne
I.C.P.T.G.  N.P.T.F.
Bergen, Norway