Usually every six months to a year is sufficient for normal use. If your piano gets played a lot, you might need more frequent tunings, like every two or three months. Ideally your ear should be your guide. If some of the notes on your piano are sounding “sour,” it’s probably time to call the tuner. New or recently restrung pianos may need more frequent tunings for the first couple of years, because the new strings are stretching. Pianos with loose tuning pins also may need more frequent tunings.

by Kendall Ross Bean

10 Tips on how to buy a piano?

How often should a piano be tuned?

~ Who would know better, when you sh!0ould tune your piano than the people who make pianos?

WHAT THE MANUFACTURERS HAVE TO SAY:

Steinway & Sons
“…no matter how expertly a piano is tuned, atmospheric variations and the nature of the piano’s construction constantly conspire to bring it off pitch”

Yamaha Pianos
“…a piano should be tuned at least twice a year.”
” Complete piano service should include periodic regulation and voicing in addition to tuning.”

Baldwin Piano Company
” After the first year a piano should be tuned at least twice each year.”
Keep in mind that every piano is subject to one or more factors that will make it go out of tune, including:

– Humidity changes – Temperature changes – Stretching of strings
– Slipping tuning pins – Hard use

Young Chang America, Inc.
(also Pramberger & Bergmann)

Piano owners will receive optimum performance from their piano if it is properly serviced during its lifetime to compensate for the effects of environmental conditions and use.

Due to the natural elasticity in new piano strings, we recommend that your instrument be tuned two to four times the first year, twice the second year and a minimum of once per year thereafter. Of course, you may choose to have your piano tuned more or less often to satisfy your own personal requirements.

Ask your piano technician to also inspect the action and mechanical parts of your instrument along with regular tunings. Registered Piano Technicians have proven themselves qualified to give advice on the needs of a piano in its specific environment.

              How often you should tune your piano depends on its condition, the environment in which it is located, and the musical demands of the owner.

A piano used mainly as a furniture piece probably won’t “need” to be tuned more than once a year. A piano that is played regularly and is in good condition would be better off with 2 tunings per year, each time the seasonal humidity changes. A piano given a daily workout by a professional or serious student might need to be tuned more frequently, maybe 4 times a year or more. At this level of use, it’s really up to the individual and at what point the tuning starts to bother them.