Need Tuning Advice

[hobie690]

I'm an adult beginner and am a total beginner in the realm of piano ownership, so please bear with my question....

I had a 1962 Everett 45" studio upright delivered to my home on October 15. On October 29, I had it tuned for the first time. Because I didn't know a thing about Damp Chasers (not that there's much to know in hindsight!), I plugged it after the tuner/tech looked at it, and after he had tuned the piano, that very day in fact.

Seems to me that the piano is now out of tune, and it varies how much it offends me. Initially, he told me to have it tuned in 6 months. It's in the back of my mind that plugging in the damp chaser right after the tuning may have altered the environment around the soundboard enough to make it go either sharp or flat. I haven't yet evaluated which direction it went--I can just hear that it's not in tune.

Perhaps I am being too picky. My bank account wants me to wait, but my ears want me to get it done sooner!

If it helps to know my climate, I live in St. Paul, MN.

Thanks for your input!

Tim

[gfiore]

 You made a big mistake. The reccomended time for a tuning is three weeks after the DC system is installed. It takes that long for the system to stabilize a piano. Tuning, and then turning it on was the cause of the tuning instability.
 Why did'nt you speak to the tech, or tell him that is was not plugged in yet. You would have saved yourself some money.

[hobie690]

You made a big mistake. The reccomended time for a tuning is three weeks after the DC system is installed. It takes that long for the system to stabilize a piano. Tuning, and then turning it on was the cause of the tuning instability.
 Why did'nt you speak to the tech, or tell him that is was not plugged in yet. You would have saved yourself some money.

Yes....hindsight is wonderful. He did know that I hadn't turned it on, and was planning to do so after he left. Oh well, live and learn. Maybe he'll give me a discount on the second tuning. I kind of figured I'd goofed. 

[_tyro]

I don't think it would have mattered all that much when you tuned it.  I bought a piano, had the damp chaser installed (all this in June in North Carolina) and waited a month to have the piano tuned.  At the second tuning  (early December, after we finally got to turn the air conditioning off around here)  the instrument was very sharp.  It was partially lowered and properly tuned.  Now, after nearly two months, it is right on its new pitch and in tune across all its registers.  We're waiting to see what happens when the temp and humidity change, but chances are things will be much better from now on.  There's just some settling time when a piano moves and it may take a while for it to acclimate to the damp chaser if it has never seen one before.  I'd wait until you get to shut the heating off (no idea when that happens MN), or at least wait until it's not on all the time.  Think it's more about the humidity than the temperature.  It might be a good idea to monitor both in the room where you have your piano, and do your tuning when the local humidity makes its seasonal change.

Good luck, and hope you enjoy your new hobby.