[pianotech] Reason to tune to pitch

Chuck Behm behmpiano at gmail.com
Mon May 11 04:58:08 MDT 2009


I've, certainly, heard an huge change in tone when bringing a piano up to
pitch.   Isn't that enough of a reason to do it?

David Ilvedson, RPT
Pacifica, CA  94044

David - You bet it is. When a customer asks why it is important for a piano
to be tuned to correct pitch, I first will tell them that the instrument is
more musical when it's at the correct tension. If they want to hear that for
themselves, I'll put my tuning hammer on a midrange tuning pin, push down on
the sustain pedal, pluck the string for that pin, and turn the hammer
swiftly to the flat. When you reach about an octave low, the resulting
"tone" is obviously not of same quality. I ask them if they like that sound
(they never do) and tell them that that's the direction tonally that their
piano is heading.

Usually, that's enough to do the trick. NIne out of ten times they will say,
"Well if you have the time, bring it up." When it's anything more than about
25 cents, I will strongly recommend 2 closely spaced follow up tunings, then
a yearly tuning after that.  Chuck
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