About piano tuning in Richmond Va

    
     

Piano Tuning in Richmond Va

    

About Piano Tuning

   

Why Tune Your Piano?

    
       

 

 

Why does a piano go out of tune?

Your piano is made mostly out of wood. As the months go by, and as the seasons change, the wood expands and contracts over and over again. This movement of perhaps 75% of the instrument causes the piano to go out of tune. It goes out of tune because the strings also move as the wood moves. The problem is that each string don't move exactly the same amount as the other strings. Each time the piano goes through this seasonal cycle, it goes farther and farther out of tune. Each year that the piano is not tuned the worse it sounds, and the more difficult it becomes to get it back in good tune. As the piano goes farther out of tune, it is less enjoyable and harder to play. It takes away from your enjoyement and makes learning more difficult too.		  

 

 

 

please tune my piano How does your piano sound? my piano sounds bad

 

How do I keep my piano in tune?
Why does it go out of tune?
 

How often should my piano be tuned?

The reason that your piano goes out of tune is the seasonal change in humidity that occurs each year. As the piano picks up moisture in the humid summers, the wood expands and stretches the strings, As the piano dries out in the winter, the wood contracts. Each year the piano is not tuned, the bigger the changes become and the worse your piano sounds. There are about 240 strings in a piano. Most of the notes on the piano have 3 strings playing exactly the same note. All 3 strings must play EXACTLY THE SAME NOTE to sound good and sound as one note, But as each string moves a little more each month, it doesn't move exactly the same amount as the one right next to it. Therefore as you play one key or note, the sound that is produced is really playing 3 slightly different notes at the same time. As the seasonal changes occur, each of the strings stretches and relaxes back, but not the same amount!

Because the three strings for the one note don't change the same amount, each note will start to sound wavy or fuzzy or out of tune. When you play just one key you expect it to play just one note, but instead it is playing three slightly different notes. So of course it sounds out of focus or out of tune. And that is just for one note, Now multiply that by 88 notes and hundreds of small differences between the hundreds of strings and you have a piano that doesn't sound very good or precise anymore. It is like I said earlier, the piano looses it's focus, it's tone, and it's presence.

As the months go by, all these small changes in string pitches gets more and more pronounced and the piano sounds worse and worse. When the piano gets like this, it takes the fun and enjoyment out of playing, and makes learning much harder too!

  

 

 

 

   

How do I keep my piano in tune?
Can your piano be damaged?

 

  The quick answer is yes given enough time. A piano is designed to be under around 40,000 pounds of tension. This is part of what gives the piano its volume, power, and strength. Each year that a piano is not tuned, the overall tension of your piano drops a little bit. If your piano is tuned regularly, the piano tuner can tune the piano and also raise the tension or pitch the small amount it has dropped at the same time. That way if it is tuned on a regular basis, the tension never drops more than a few hundred pounds and is brought back to where it is designed to be.

If however you let your piano go year after year without tuning, eventually the tension can drop thousands of pounds. At some point - perhaps 20 years or even more, the piano will develop structural damage that may not be repairable. Also, as each year goes by, the piano sounds worse and worse and it gets to a point that no one can stand to play or listen to it.

The cost of getting the piano back up to proper tension or pitch and in decent tune can take 3 or 4 tunings over a year or two. That can add up to hundreds of dollars requiring a painstaking and arduous process.		  
       
  piano tuning voicing flexible scheduling
  repairs appraisals free consultations
  squeaks & buzzes moving reasonable pricing