Sam Crosser piano tuning & servicing & Live Modern jazz piano music
Piano Tuning
Piano Tuning
Professional service is the key. In the first year, the National Piano Manufacturers Association recommends that you have your piano tuned four times. This is a period of environmental adjustment for a new instrument, and proper attention is important.
After the first year, the piano should be tuned at least twice each year, depending upon the frequency of use and atmospheric conditions. Grands, consoles, studios, and spinet pianos can always benefit from a solid tuning.
Piano Tuning and Servicing
Sam ,a member of the Piano Technicians Guild , can have your piano sounding harmonically sound - See Sam to have yours tuned up ! Piano manufactures recommend two tunings a year. " Tune Up with Sam! "
E-MAIL - sam@samstunes.com
Tuning is the service you will require most often on your piano. Most manufacturers and technicians recommend that you have your piano tuned at least twice a year (every six months) to maintain accurate pitch and sound as well as tuning stability. Standard pitch is a tuning based on “middle A” tuned to 440 cycles/second. This international standard is particularly important for “ear training” in order to develop your own sense of proper pitch. This is essential for children learning to play the piano. If your piano hasn’t been tuned for a long time, it may require a pitch adjustment. A pitch adjustment is an initial “rough” tuning to bring the instrument to pitch before a fine-tuning can be performed.
The Basics, Placement There are 2 “nevers” for piano placement, never in direct sunlight,this means checking if the sun will be shining on the piano during any portion of the day. The 2nd never is never in direct heat, in other words if a heat register will be blowing on it(or for that matter an A/C vent) either move the piano, close the vent or purchase a deflector to deflect the direct heat away from the piano. Finish Care The most important suggestion I can make is to keep all drinks off the piano, they can not only mar the finish but if spilled can leak inside doing much more damage. When you dust try to dust in the direction of the grain on wood finished pianos, dust can be abrasive which is why dry dusting, unless a special duster, Swiffer or any of the electrostatic dusting materials are used, they pick up the dust instead of “pushing it around”. The 2 types of piano finishes found on pianos today, lacquer on older pianos and polyester/polyurethane on newer ones may also be wiped down with a clean slightly damp cloth. Spray type polishes are not recommended. Cory makes piano specific polishes for the differing finishes which I offer, along with their key cleaning liquid. Tuning-How often? Most manufacturers recommend tuning a new piano 3 to 4 times the first year and twice a year after that. I find in my experience I have some customers that tune their pianos more often than twice a year and others that once a year works for them just fine. The large seasonal changes are most noticable after the onset of heating season in the fall and after the end of heating season in the late spring/early summer. General Rules of Care Keep the piano tuned and try not to overfill the bench (the bottoms break out easily), wipe off the keys periodically with a damp cloth. Play the piano regularly, a played piano is a happy piano! Do not try to make repairs yourself. I carry a supply of parts, specialty tools, which I paid for years ago& the correct glues. Frequently I have found it is more expensive to re-repair a do-it-yourselfer’s good intentions, than for me to just repair it in the first place. Humidity Control Systems and Your Piano Much of your piano is wood, which changes size and shape as the humidity in the room rises and falls. When the humidity increases, wood swells; and when it decreases, the wood shrinks. When the wood in your piano swells or shrinks, the tuning changes as the string tension goes up and down. That is why pianos tend to be sharp in the summer and flat in the winter. Note the string travel at right it's high point is the bridge(gray/black zigzag on maple)which is glued to the spruce soundboard which swells with humidity & shrinks back when it dries Humidity also affects other wooden parts of the piano, including the pinblock, soundboard, and bridges. Tuning pins are held tight by the wooden pinblock. If a pinblock dries out too much, the piano will not stay in tune because the tuning pins can’t resist the string tension. Your piano’s soundboard and bridges, which can crack if they get too dry, are critical for good tone and volume. They can be repaired, but avoiding the problem is a better solution. Note the cracked bridge from years of excessive humidity & dryness at left & it's replacement below! You can keep track of your piano’s humidity with a hygrometer (humidity meter). Both pianos and humans are at their best when the humidity is between 40% and 50%, so you will both benefit. For long-term humidity control, you might consider installing a Dampp-Chaser system to automatically monitor and control the humidity inside your piano. Call or email for Piano Life Saver information.