How often should I tune my piano in Colorado?

We regularly get asked, “how often should I tune my piano”?

There are several factors that affect how often we recommend tuning your piano. Below are some of those considerations, as well as a few tips to help you maintain your tuning longer.

1.) How often are you playing the piano?

For musicians who are practicing everyday for at least an hour, we recommend tuning slightly more often, roughly every 4-6 months. This ensures that you have a piano that is in tune, so that you can make sure the piano is matching what is in your head. If you, or your children, are heavy players, this can cause the tuning to slip faster.

If you consider a regular jazz club that has concerts 4-7 nights per week, they tune their pianos on a weekly basis. This is a great consideration to take into account when considering on how often you want to tune your piano.

2.) How long has the piano been located in Colorado?

We have a high elevation desert climate in Colorado that keeps the humidity quite low throughout the year. For pianos moving from more humid climates, such as California, Florida, Carolinas, Illinois, and more, we recommend a more frequent tuning to help with the acclimation period, and to allow us to observe any issues that may need to be addressed.

Pianos coming from more humid climates carry a risk of drying out and having the soundboard crack. We can also see more corrosion on strings coming from humid clients, requiring a bit of extra time and effort in order to minimize string breakage.

We highly recommend having a humidifier in the room with a recently moved piano, or better yet, installing a dampp chaser humidifier system that reacts only to the micro-climate in your piano.

A tuning is recommended every 3-4 months for the first 2-3 years that the piano is located in Colorado.

3.) What environment is the piano being kept in?

The humidity is one of the major factors in how well a piano holds a tune. Humidity plays more of a factor than temperature. The reason for this is that the pinblock is responsible for holding the pins in their position, with the required amount of tension for the strings to be in tune. The pinblock is a large multi-layered piece of hardwood containing sometimes up to 15-20 layers that are glued together. Humidity changes cause wood to expand and contract, and the pinblock is no exception to that. As the wood expands and contracts it allows the pins to move and settle.

If the piano is in a room with large windows, or sees a great deal of sunlight throughout the day, you will be likely to affect the tuning of your piano faster. If a piano is exposed to sun on a daily basis, it is best to close curtains during the time of day the piano is in the sun, consider moving it to another area, or understand the need to regularly tune the piano, as well as regularly conditioning the finish of the cabinet.

Regular sun exposure can cause crazing in the cabinet of the piano. Crazing is a network of fine cracks, almost resembling alligator or crocodile skin, on the finish of the cabinet. This will affect the overall look, and value of the piano.

A finished basement space is also a good option for your piano if you don’t have a humidifier system, and don’t want to purchase one (although, we highly recommend having one). The humidity is generally a little higher and more consistent than a ground floor (or higher) location, and the temperature stays more consistent throughout the year.

4.) Overall condition of the piano

We consider the overall condition that the piano is in when recommending a schedule for tuning. We do consider age, but we also heavily emphasize the previous wear and tear on the piano that happens through use. A piano that is old, and has been regularly maintained but not rebuilt, will most likely need tuning more often, due to having a pinblock that is not tight enough. An old piano that hasn’t had much use, might need tuning a touch less often.

If the piano has been restrung or rebuilt, and has a new pinblock, your tunings will hold better due to the new laminate wood that will allow the pins to hold a tighter . This is due to the minimal amount of wear on the new pinblock.

We recommend most pianos be tuned about every 6 months. If you play the piano often, have it located in a sunny room, or have more wear and tear, we recommend a tuning about every 4 months. You can schedule online, or reach out to us via phone/text at 720-737-4680 and we’ll be happy to get an appointment setup to take care of your piano.