Q. How often should I have my piano tuned?

A.  Here's what manufacturers have to say:

Steinway & Sons (Boston, Essex):  " . . . at least three or four times a year.  . . . To put the matter of tuning into perspective, remember that a concert piano is tuned before every performance, and a piano in a professional recording studio, where it is in constant use, is tuned three or four times each week as a matter of course."

Baldwin (Chickering, Wurlitzer):  "In the first year, the National Piano Manufacturers Association recommends that you have your piano tuned four times.  After the first year, the piano should be tuned at least twice each year."

Kawai:  " . . . a new piano should receive at least four tunings in the first year.  After that, . . . Kawai recommends two tunings per year as a minimum."

Pearl River:  " . . . four times the first year and twice a year" after that.

Samick (Knabe, Kohler & Campbell, Conover Cable, Bechstein and Sohmer):  " . . . two to three tunings the first year and a minimum of two tunings per year thereafter."

Yamaha:  New pianos should be tuned a minimum of four times the first year . . . .  Subsequently, . . . a piano should be tuned at least twice a year."

Young Chang (Pramberger and Bergmann):  " . . . 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."

"How often should my piano be serviced?" a publication of the Piano Technicians Guild.  (Copies available upon request.)

Q. Is my piano out of tune? 
A.  If you have to ask, it is.  All pianos go out of tune, regardless of how much they are played.

Q.  Why does a piano go out of tune?
A.  Despite conventional wisdom, unless you play many hours a day, play with a very heavy hand, or both, playing does not put your piano out of tune.  The true culprits?  Changes in humidity and temperature.  Your piano's soundboard is crowned (curved outward toward the strings).  The soundboard swells during high humidity and shrinks during low humidity, causing its crown to rise and fall.  This in turn causes the strings to be stretched and shortened, causing the piano to go sharp or flat.  Similarly, sudden large changes in temperature cause your piano's plate and strings to change dimension, resulting in similar stretching and shortening of its strings.

Within reasonable limits, your piano doesn't care what the humidity and temperature are.  Consistency is the key.  Your piano can handle a 5-10% swing in relative humidity and a 5-10° shift in temperature pretty well.  As your piano knows full well, New Mexico humidity levels swing 60-70% throughout the year, sometimes within a week, and we regularly see 30° temperature swings in a day.  This is why your piano goes out of tune.

Q.  Does it hurt the piano if I skip a few tunings?
A.  Skipped tunings cause two problems:

1) Tuning instability:  If your piano is more than a little off pitch, pitch corrections will be required before it can be tuned.  (See "Pitch Corrections" under the "Services" link.)  Often, two pitch corrections are required for a piano that hasn't been tuned regularly.  Not only does this double your tuning costs, it results in a far-less stable tuning due to the tremendous changes in tension and pressure your piano has to undergo.
2) Metal memory:  Piano wire has metal memory:  It "remembers" its current length and thickness.  Length plus thickness equals pitch.  A pitch correction changes each string's length and thickness, its pitch.  After a pitch correction, metal memory works to return each string to its previous length and thickness, the pitch you just paid to have corrected.

Due to tuning instability and metal memory, it is not uncommon for a piano that has needed extensive pitch correction to need additional pitch correction six months later.  Not only is this bad for tuning stability, but as your tuning costs mount, the money you have "saved" by skipping tunings disappears.

Q. What services do you offer?
A. Please click on the "Services" page.  My services are listed and explained there.

Q. My piano has a rattle.  How much is it going to cost to fix it?
A.  I have no idea until I see the piano.  Rattles, buzzes, sticky keys, nonfunctioning notes:  All of these can be the result of a wide variety of different problems.

Q. Should I keep my piano or get a new one?
A.  I can't help you answer that question until I see the piano.  However, there are a couple of basic things to consider.  Assuming your piano isn't beyond hope:

1) Are you thinking about buying a new piano of the same size and quality, or are you looking to upgrade? Size and quality are the key considerations.  If you intend to upgrade, your current piano will never be satisfactory.

2) If you are satisfied with the size of your current piano, were you at one time satisfied with its quality?  Most pianos can be brought back to their previous condition or better.

3) Find out the cost of a replacement piano, then have me come to your home and give you a bid on repairing your current piano.  Most of the time, it is less expensive to repair your piano than it is to buy a new one, and if you buy a used one, you will have to deal with the maintenance issues of that piano.

Q. Should I buy the piano I saw advertised in the paper?
A.  The best thing to do is to have me examine the piano before you buy it.  I'll tell you what maintenance it needs and how much that maintenance will cost.  If that isn't logistically possible, play the piano and consider the two most important questions:

1) Do you like the way it feels?
2) Do you like the way it sounds?

I can improve the touch (feel) and the sound of any piano, but individual tastes vary tremendously.  If you don't like the piano to begin with, there is no guarantee you will like the piano when I am done.

Q. What if you are already at my house, but I can't afford the maintenance that my piano needs?

A.  When I evaluate your piano, we discuss what it needs and what the cost will be.  If you can't afford to have everything done, I help you prioritize.  Bottom line, you tell me how much you can afford to have done, and I do it.

Q. What should I use to care for my piano's finish?
A. Copies of the Piano Technicians Guild technical bulletin on finish care are available upon request.

Q.  Does New Mexico's climate affect my piano?
A. Tremendously. Our climate provides wide (often wild) swings in temperature and humidity.  Pianos like consistent temperature and humidity levels.  What to do?

1) Temperature:

a) Locate your piano against an inside wall.
b) Keep your piano out of direct sunlight.
c) Keep your piano away from drafts, heat sources and air conditioning vents.
d) Keep your piano as far as possible from any fireplace or wood-burning stove.  Fire sucks moisture out of the air-and your piano-faster than you can say, "My soundboard cracked!"

2) Humidity:

a) Keep your piano in a sealed room with a special humidifier that keeps the room humidity at 42% (manufacturers' recommendation) while making no noise, or . . .
b) install an indoor swimming pool, or . . .
c) have me install a Piano Lifesaver Climate Control System from DAMPP-CHASER.  I consider these systems so essential to piano care in New Mexico that I carry a grand and an upright system with me at all times.  Or . . .
d) do nothing-and pray.