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Servicing your piano, putting it in good shape.
Ring … ring … the phone rings.
Customer: “I have an old piano that hasn’t been tuned in years”…
Piano tuner: groan “Ok?”
You have just inherited your grandmother’s piano or you found a piano on-line but you aren’t really sure how long ago it’s been since it was tuned.
Customer: “It probably just needs a tuning. It still looks good.”
Piano tuner: “Maybe, but what about the inside?”
It is very important to not only have your piano tuned by a certified technician, but also to look after the action “playing mechanism” of your piano.
Have you ever opened up your piano at the top, and looked inside, just to wonder what really is going on inside there?
Well … That’s the action of the piano, almost like the engine of a car.
It consists of hundreds of parts, made from wood, felt and brass., although some piano manufacturors make some parts from plastic.
Plastic is not a good material to work with, especially not in pianos, because with age, they crumble or break apart.
Carbon fibre is also used these days, which I think yields good results.
Let me quickly introduce you to some of the parts:
Few people actually ask this question, and although we know that pianos need tuning from time to time, pianos are mechanical instruments, consisting out of many tiny parts.
From tiny pins and screws, to large parts like the soundboard, pin block, and the steel frame.
All of these play an integral part in your piano’s ability to bring you enjoyment, and need to be maintained.
Over the next few articles or posts, I will give a brief synopses of the different parts of your piano that you should keep maintained.
If neglected, or over time “with age” these parts can get worn and old, and may need replacing, reconditioning, or may get to the point where “ due to cost”, may not be worth repairing.
So does weather play any part in my piano’s tuning stability?
The answer to this question is YES.
Depending on where your piano is stationed, the weather can affect the pitch of your piano quite drastically.
Not only cold or hot weather, but the amount of humidity too.
If it is too dry, or too humid, it affects the moisture content in the wood of the soundboard and bridges, and also, to a certain extent, affect the strings over time.
The warmer it gets, the flatter the tone gets;
The colder it gets, the sharper the tone rises.
I see it quite often.
When I come to a piano which isn’t tuned and serviced regularly, it will need a pitch adjustment.
There is an article on pitch-adjustment on this blog you can go read up on;
But basically, if a piano is left to fend for itself in the hot and cold weather, dry or humid, over-time, the strings will respond accordingly:
Some will stretch tighter, and others will loosen up.
The end result:
A piano which is all over the place.
So when I come to the piano, it would be quite impossible to just do a simple fine-tuning.
It’s like taking your car in to the mechanics, which you haven’t maintained for a few years, and maybe stood in a garage somewhere, without being used.
And now you want it to work again.
It’s going to take time and effort to get it up-to-standard again, “if possible”.
What is a Registered Piano Technician (RPT)?
The field of piano technology is an unregulated trade. Therefore the Piano Technicians Guild has set its own standards of quality for piano technicians. The Guild has two types of members: Registered Piano Technicians and Associates. Associate membership is open to all individuals 18 years of age and older with a professional or avocational interest in piano technology. On the other hand, the title of “Registered Piano Technician” must be earned by passing a series of examinations.