Artistic Piano Tuning
Raleigh
ph: 919-455-8443
David
Here are the answers to some frequently asked questions.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does tuning cost?
Please go to the tab labeled price.
How long does tuning take? Normally tuning takes about 2 hours. However, a piano needing repairs, regulation, or large pitch raises will take longer. It is not unusual to spend 3 hours on a piano that has not been maintained or tuned in years.
New Pianos: What to Expect When you first have your piano delivered, you will need to have it tuned within the first 3-6 weeks; normally again in 3 months (sometimes longer depending on its initial tuning condition), and then again in 6 months, then intervals of every 6 or 12 months depending on its location, climatic conditions and usage. In 1-3 years after purchase (depending again on climatic conditions and usage) you will need to do some basic maintenance; shaping the hammers (filing out the string groves) re-aligning them to the strings and tighten all the screws, along with some minor regulation. This is due to the initial settling of felts, and the drying of wood and glues used in the construction of all new pianos.
Older Pianos: What to Expect When you first have your piano delivered or moved you will need to have it tuned within the first 3-6 weeks. If your piano has been kept up over the years you will need to tune it normally every 6 or 12 months depending on its location climatic conditions and usage. If it has been a long time since its last tuning you can expect it to need a pitch raise. A pitch raise is accomplished by tuning the piano then again in a few weeks if it is very far below pitch (30 cents or more) and may take several tunings to become “stable” (sounding good between tunings). If the piano is less than 30 cents off and depending on the overall condition of the piano we may wait up to 3 months or more to retune, with regular intervals thereafter. (Every 6 or 12 months depending on its location climatic conditions and usage). In older pianos due to usage, age and climatic conditions it is possible that your piano may need far more extensive work to bring it back to its optimum performance; we will go over all its needs at the initial tuning and decide on a course of action.
What is a Cent? A cent is a term used by tuners. It is a measurement, or if you prefer, a percentage between notes; there are 100 cents between each ½ step.
How is a piano tuned?
How often should my piano be tuned?
Does a piano need tuning after it’s moved?
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Piano Cabinet Care
Do you have one of those newer high gloss pianos? Wonder how to clean and care for the finish? Here are a few easy tips and products you can get locally.
1. To clean your piano including the keys, use Windex, yes Windex simply mix it down to 50% water and the rest Windex; spray the Windex on your dusting rag and clean, dust & finger prints even the grape jelly from the little ones!
It is VERY important that you put the Windex on the rag NEVER spray directly onto the piano, nor use the Windex to clean the inside of your piano. While we're on the never thing, don't use normal furniture polish on your piano.
2. To polish your piano we recommend Maguiar’s Mirror Glaze once every three months or so; they have many different products you can use however we useMeguiar's Professional Show Car Glaze. The show car glaze will actually fill those little swirl scratches you see from dusting and make your piano look like brand new. Mirror glaze can be purchased at your local auto parts store or on line at the link below. It's a car wax and since your piano has a two part epoxy like finish Maguiar’s is perfectly suited to polish it.
http://www.autobarn.net/megcarcarpro.html
Semi Gloss Pianos
New pianos that are satin or semi-gloss you treat the same as above only DON’T use Maguiar’s Mirror Glaze.
Why is frequent piano tuning necessary?
> 1. Pianos that are regularly tuned are the only ones that sound right and good.
> 2. You can avoid the extra time and expense of a large pitch raise. If I tuned your piano within the last year, any pitch raise needed now is free..
> 3. Your piano is a living, breathing thing in that it responds to its environment. Its wood expands and contracts with seasonal changes in temperature and humidity,and the string tension fluctuates accordingly. Occasional tunings of once every few years cause your piano to be unstable and not hold its tune very long.
> 4. Regular tunings take much less time. Huge pitch raises can add as much as 1 hour to a tuning.
> 5. Modern pianos sound best at A440. They do not sound right when they are 50 or 100 cents flat.
> 6. During tuning, many performance functions are checked and sometimes corrected without any additional cost.
> 7. Children do not learn to enjoy music on a poor sounding, difficult to play instrument.
> 8. Piano manufacturers unanimously recommend 2 to 4 tunings a year. A new piano must be tuned 3 or 4 times during the first year. > If it's only tuned once or twice that first year, it will take a very > long time before the piano will hold a good solid tuning.
> 9. Regular tunings reduce the risk of the formation of string rust bonds, which can cause strings to break.
10. The more often a piano is tuned the more stable the tuning becomes and of course the better it sounds.
How does an ETD (computer based tuning) compare with an aural tuning?
First let me explain some terms. ETD stand for Electronic Tuning Device (ie: a program on a computer or a special purpose computer) and aural tuning is tuning by ear using a pitch fork or electronic device as a reference pitch. Probably 95% of piano technicians use electronics to some degree or another. Some will just tune A4 using an electronic device. Others with use an ETD only for pitch raises. Both the Tune Lab program and the SAT III (a special purpose computer) are designed to measure a piano’s inharmonicity and then calculate a correct tuning for every note on the piano. The SAT III was designed by Dr Sanderson who studied the best aural tuner's work to produce the programming for the SAT. Tune Lab is very simular except that it gives me a spectrum analyzer type of display alowing me to see the wave shape of the note being played along with much other information.
The January 1997 Piano Technicians Journal had an article titled The Great Chicago Tune-off by Steve Brady. It tells of a Piano Guild convention where a contest was done between two of the nation’s best veteran tuner / technicians. Jim Coleman Sr. tuned a Kawai KX-r grand using a SATIII electronic device. Virgil Smith tuned an identical grand using aural techniques. A concert was played and then the audience (made of piano professionals) was asked to judge the tuning of the instruments. The audience was not told which grand had been tuned by aural and which by EDT. The combined vote was 46% favored the EDT tuning, 36% the aural tuning, and 18% couldn’t tell a difference.
I am combining the use of aural tests and visual computer based devices to do my tuning. Using all the senses God has given is the strongest position to work from and gives the best tuning. I am always watching the spectrum analyzer display so that I know the note being adjusted is very close to correct but then I am listening to octaves and fifths to fine tune what the electronics is telling me.
What is inharmonicity? All pianos have inharmonicity. Grands have less. Spinets have more. That is one reason we study tuning for years and use equipment such as the SAT III and not $20 guitar tuners. Guitar type tuning equipment cannot calculate the partials that piano strings actually do vibrate at and only use theoretical frequencies. If a piano was tuned using a guitar tuner type instrument, it would sound dull, flat, lifeless.
This short article from Wikipedia explains the difference between whole frequency multiples and partials.
In music, inharmonicity is the degree to which the frequencies of overtones (known as partials, partial tones, or harmonics) depart from whole multiples of the fundamental frequency. Acoustically, a note perceived to have a single distinct pitch in fact contains a variety of additional overtones. Many percussion instruments, such as cymbals, tam-tams, and chimes, create complex and inharmonic sounds. In stringed instruments such as the piano, the less elastic the strings are (that is, the shorter, thicker, and stiffer they are), the more inharmonicity they exhibit.
When a string gets thick enough, compared to the length of the string, it stops behaving as a string and starts acting more like a cylinder (a tube of mass), which have different harmonics than strings. On wind instruments, the harmonic overtones are even multiples of the main frequency. However, on stringed instruments the overtones are inharmonic, which is is caused by a "fastening fault in the string endings"; the string endings are fastened at each end, which means that they cannot "vibrate all the way to its ends." As such, the "effective length of a string is shorter than its geometrical length," especially for shorter, stiffer strings.[1]
In 1943, Schuck and Young were the first scientists to measure the spectral inharmonicity in piano tones. They found that the spectral partials in piano tones are progressively stretched. In 1962, Harvey Fletcher's research indicated that the spectral inharmonicity is important for tones to sound piano-like. They proposed that inharmonicity is responsible for the "warmth" property common to real piano tones. [2]. "Inharmonicity is not necessarily unpleasant. Fletcher, Blackham, and Stratton [1] pointed out that a slightly inharmonic spectrum added certain “warmth” into the sound. They found that synthesized piano tones sounded more natural when the partials below middle C were inharmonic."[3]
Pianos are tuned by ear by technicians called piano tuners who listen for the sound of "beating" when two notes are played together. Piano tuners must deal with the inharmonicity of piano strings, which is present in different amounts in all of the ranges of the instrument, but especially in the bass and high treble registers. Piano strings are under enormous tension compared with the strings on a violin or guitar, and as a result, piano strings are much harder and stiffer. Another factor that can cause problems is the presence of rust on the strings or dirt in the windings. [4]These elements can result in inharmonicity, which has the effect of slightly raising in frequency of the higher modes, which means that they cease to be exact integer multiples of the fundamental.
The harmonic series of strings does not fall exactly into whole-number multiples of a fundamental frequency, but rather each harmonic is slightly sharper than a whole-number ratio, and this sharpness increases as higher tones in the harmonic series are reached. This means that an aurally tuned octave will be a "stretched octave" which is slightly wider than the just 2:1 ratio. The amount of stretching depends on the style of piano and is determined mainly by the length of the strings. On a piano, the notes in the higher register will end up being tuned slightly sharper than those in the lower octave. This is less apparent on longer pianos which have proportionally thinner strings, because string inharmonicity is directly related to the ratio of string thickness to length. (for more information, see Piano acoustics).
Occasionally I run into very very old pianos that have thin plates and pitches more than 100 cents (a semi-tone) flat. There are several risks in trying to raise pitch on these pianos of strings breaking, bridges cracking or even the plate cracking but these are very rare events. If the pin block is bad the tuning pin may not allow the pitch change. I have seen old pianos where pins unwound themselves immediately after being tuned and would not hold a higher pitch.
Fujan Tuning Lever

Can you do repairs? Yes. Any repairs, even minor, will take additional time and may need to be rescheduled depending on the situation. I have accounts set up with three major piano parts wholesalers where I can buy any needed strings, keytops or practically any piano part or accessory. I carry hundreds of piano repair parts on my truck however; repairs are not covered as a part of the normal tuning cost. I can service Dampp-Chaser Systems. I charge $40 per hour plus parts cost on repair.
Do you sell supplies for pianos?
Yes, but only for the customers whose pianos I am tuning.
I am not currently set up to sell via the internet and do no have a store. Here are a few of the items I am selling.
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Piano Life Saver Systems from Damp-Chaser.
Grand Piano String Covers.
Key-Brite by Cory. Cleans and brightens all plastic and ivory keytops, as well as plastic or ebony sharps. Just spray onto key coverings, and wipe clean.
4 oz bottle $5.14
Humidifier Treatment for Damp-Chaser systems 8 oz $7.70
Damp-Chaser pads and lines. Package of 4 replacement pads and 2 liners $9.42
Soundboard Steel Insert a cloth in one end of this spring steel to clean grand soundboards. $14.95
Jansen Artist Benches, Chairs, and Stools.
Thank you,
David Mainesmith
Associate Member - The Piano Technicians Guild
* There are 100 cents difference in the pitch between semitones (ie: A to A#). On a piano that is 100 cents flat, playing an A# will actually produce the pitch of an A on a properly tuned instrument.
** There are at least three well know methods of numbering piano keys.
The A above middle C is designated as A4 in the “C system” used by most piano technicians and tuning equipment manufactures in the United States. In this system A0 is the lowest key on the piano and C8 is the highest note.
In the “A system,” A above middle C is designated as A49. In this system the lowest key on the piano is A1 and the highest note is C88. The “A system” is popular with European and Oriental piano manufactures. There is also another system used by audiologists and music teachers.
Artistic Piano Tuning
Raleigh
ph: 919-455-8443
David