Such pianos after settling for so many years still behave like new unstable pianos the strings have not been pulled up to pitch the required number of times for them to become fully stretched. I would assume most, if not all experienced piano tuners have serviced pianos neglected for 10, 15 or 20 years pianos that have never been tuned since the date of purchase. Why? Until the strings become fully stretched (by having them tuned) a new piano is not going to hold tune for long anyway ~ the sooner your new piano experiences three or four tunings the sooner you get to enjoy a stable piano. Yet many piano dealers recommend waiting before having your new piano tuned after moving the piano into your home. To compensate for this stretching, piano manufacturers recommend new pianos be tuned at least three or four times the first year. New pianos go out of tune quickly because the new strings stretch. When they unwrapped the piano, the air under the blankets was still warm and when the piano technician checked the piano it was still in decent tune ~ proving once again, it is not moving the piano, but the change in humidity and environment that causes a piano to lose its’ tune.Īnother point about settling has to do with new piano strings stretching. After wrapping the piano, they moved the piano as quickly as possible from the dealer’s showroom to the van and from the van to the concert hall. The piano movers wrapped the piano in several layers of blankets and made sure the moving van was also warm. It was winter and extremely cold outside, so protecting the piano from the extreme cold was critical.

He had tuned a nine foot concert Steinway grand piano before moving the piano to the concert hall. Years ago I talked to a technician at a piano convention, and he told an enlightening story that relates to this subject about settling. It is the unstable humidity in the new area that cased the piano to go out of tune, not the floor or the piano settling. When pianos do go out of tune after moving from one wall to another within the same room, it has been my experience, from checking the hygrometer sitting on top of the piano, the piano has gone through a humidity swing. The fact is, settling within the framework of a piano affects tuning so little that even trained piano technicians would have a hard time noticing the difference. So then if a piano being moved to another area needs to settle before tuning, then why is it, piano tuners, on a regular basis, walk into a customer’s home and discover the piano moved to a new location and yet the piano is no more out of tune than normal? In other words, the floor might not have the same level therefore, the construction of the piano shifts and needs more time to settle before tuning. Understanding this rapid acceleration of humidity change within the piano makes accepting myths about waiting several weeks before tuning a piano in its new environment difficult to accept.Īnother concept of piano settling concerns the level of the floor where the piano is sitting. Pianos serviced in storage, for piano dealers, where doors are opening and closing, need re-tuning within minutes because of the shifting environment. This tells us that shifting humidity within 24 hours affects the wood within a piano. Scientifically, no piano, no matter what size, brand, or model, will remain in perfect tune ~ exactly where the tuner set the strings ~ for 24 hours unless the piano is in a laboratory with exact climate control. Dispelling Myths About Piano Service After Moving

Let us think about this for a moment by asking a question “How long do you think it would take for a drop of water to soak into a piece of wood?” Answer: Not long, minutes, right? This is not a fair comparison because pianos have protective lacquers and sealants nevertheless by asking this question I wanted to jolt your mind towards dispelling the myths about waiting for weeks or even months before tuning your piano after moving ~ which is ridiculous, in my opinion. The logic behind this waiting is to provide the piano time to condition itself to the new environment. The general sentiment is to wait before tuning after moving your piano to a new location. How long should you wait after moving your piano to have it tuned? Perhaps, it can also provide insight into how rapidly humidity affects pianos. The following article expresses my opinion about how long a customer should wait after moving a piano to a new location before having the piano tuned.

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