help me to tune my piano :)

[faris]

hello every one..
i am starting learn how to tuning my piano.
usually many people use digital tuner to tune their piano, but i don't have it.
is there any software to tune our piano ? (free software)
and any body has ebook or download link about method to tuning ??
thanks for your help..

[faris]

help help help 

[mistermoe]

First of all, most pianists don't tune their piano themself, they get a piano-tuner.
Second, i have never seen a piano-tuner use a digital tuner, they just use their ear and a tuning fork.
Third, up till now, i didn't succeed to install any software on my piano, probably, because it's not a computer. 

Or are you simply confusing the piano with a guitar? 

[faris]

First of all, most pianists don't tune their piano themself, they get a piano-tuner.
Second, i have never seen a piano-tuner use a digital tuner, they just use their ear and a tuning fork.
Third, up till now, i didn't succeed to install any software on my piano, probably, because it's not a computer. 

Or are you simply confusing the piano with a guitar? 

sorry if somethin wrong about my english, i am indonesian and starting to speak english well.
i mean may be we can tune our piano with looking frequency for each string by computer/ digital tuner, not install any software to a piano.
i have seen a piano technician use digital tuner to tune a piano, is it wrong ??

[mad_max2024]

Second, i have never seen a piano-tuner use a digital tuner, they just use their ear and a tuning fork.

I have... And I see nothing wrong with it, though I must admit I don't know much about piano tuning in a practical sense.

I would advise you not to tune the piano yourself unless you know exactly what you are doing, those strings are under massive tension, you can damage something.
Just get a tech and ask him to do it, that's what the rest of us does. Besides... there is more to piano maintenance than just tuning, a piano tech should take a look at it regularly to see if the mechanics are working properly.

[richard black]

Plenty of piano tuners use a digital tuning aid, but the only suitable ones are made specifically for pianos, not other instruments, and are expensive (hundreds of $). Otherwise it's just a question of tuning fork and ear. Frankly the main advantage of digital tuners is that they are easier to use - and certainly a lot less tiring - in places which have a lot of background noise. The tuner who services my pianos uses a digital tuner, and my flat is nice and quiet, but then he freely admits to being a tech-head who likes his toys!

Whatever method is used, there's a lot of skill in tuning a piano, knowing just how hard to pull the lever to get the string to the right position, and crucially how to leave the piano so that it will stay in tune. I'm not saying you can't acquire the skill, but expect it to take some time and practice.

[faris]

Whatever method is used, there's a lot of skill in tuning a piano, knowing just how hard to pull the lever to get the string to the right position, and crucially how to leave the piano so that it will stay in tune. I'm not saying you can't acquire the skill, but expect it to take some time and practice.

thx, so do you have something that i can learn to tune piano ? such as ebook or video how to tune,, ?

[Bob]

I've wondered about it, but it sounds complicated.  They stretch octaves and tune things in a certain way.  Tuning all three strings on each note.  Where to start and how to move through all the keys once you start.

And after reading that thread about raising the pitch of a piano about a whole tone, I'm more leery about messing around with tuning.  Unless it's a crappy upright that no one cares about anymore.  That's about the only worthwhile thing those kind of pianos can still offer.

[john90]

Have a look here: https://piano.detwiler.us/

I must say until now I had more fun, and learnt more on the "crappy old self tuned upright" than any of my Digital keyboards.

[faris]

Have a look here: https://piano.detwiler.us/

I must say until now I had more fun, and learnt more on the "crappy old self tuned upright" than any of my Digital keyboards.

hey, thanks for the link ^^
this is what i looking for..

any one had another link, ebook or other ?

[silverwoodpianos]

Regarding the comments about digital tuning devices………digital tuning devices do not tune; they set frequencies only.  They are calibrated to do so. This is an often misunderstood point about them. One can use a digital device to get the instrument close, but then you have to “tune/temper” the instrument in certain areas to make a good tuning. Each instrument is different.  The digital devices are a tool only…..one of many in the technicians arsenal……….

[faris]

^^^ there are many way to tune, i wanna learn all .. 
give me some info about tuning piano..

[keys60]

Faris.

Of course you know this is not a 4-6 string intrument were talking about here. It takes a long time to learn how to tune. I did 2 1/2 years apprenticeship with a highly skilled technician and am getting pretty good at tuning after about 700 tunings so far. I still seek advice from the more advanced professionals and I have so much more to learn.

 I wish I could just tell you how to tune a piano over the internet, but I'm afraid that would be impossible. If you were to try it on your own, you would wind up with snapped strings and a big mess on your hands.

 The best thing to do is to find a professional tuner, ask if he/she teaches, pay him/her for their lessons and go from there.

You CAN however purchase a book called a Piano Servicing, Tuning & Rebuilding....by Arther A. Reblitz to read what is involved, then if you must, apply what you have read to a piano. Make sure you have a professional available to fix anything you might have broken. You must take your time and apply very little at a time and MAYBE, after a few months, you might be able you give a half decent tuning.

I hopes this helps and doesn't dash you passion.
You can find this book online.

[faris]

Faris.

Of course you know this is not a 4-6 string intrument were talking about here. It takes a long time to learn how to tune. I did 2 1/2 years apprenticeship with a highly skilled technician and am getting pretty good at tuning after about 700 tunings so far. I still seek advice from the more advanced professionals and I have so much more to learn.

 I wish I could just tell you how to tune a piano over the internet, but I'm afraid that would be impossible. If you were to try it on your own, you would wind up with snapped strings and a big mess on your hands.

 The best thing to do is to find a professional tuner, ask if he/she teaches, pay him/her for their lessons and go from there.

You CAN however purchase a book called a Piano Servicing, Tuning & Rebuilding....by Arther A. Reblitz to read what is involved, then if you must, apply what you have read to a piano. Make sure you have a professional available to fix anything you might have broken. You must take your time and apply very little at a time and MAYBE, after a few months, you might be able you give a half decent tuning.

I hopes this helps and doesn't dash you passion.
You can find this book online.

thanks friend, i don't care how difficult to tune it, i will learn learn and learn again until i am capable to do the best..
i will looking for that book..

about to ask professional tuner to teach me, i think it too dificult to do, i live in a city where there are only 2 tuner that i know and they are very very busy. and after i watched their skill i think they are not good enough,. (in my opinion, there are saveral note that not match on my piano and they are uncapable to fix it,,)

[keys60]

If they are not very good and they are very very busy, there must be a serious shortage of piano technicians in your area.

[richard black]

In many cities and indeed countries, there is quite a shortage of really good piano tuners and technicians. Anyone with the patience to study piano tuning and repair can be assured of a living, it seems to me, as long as they don't mind moving to where the work is! As with all things, the best way to learn is from an experienced practitioner but with a little initial help (the Reblitz book is good), some decent tools and a lot of experimentation and thought, there's no reason why you can't get very good at it, given time.

[latrobe]

hello every one..
i am starting learn how to tuning my piano.
usually many people use digital tuner to tune their piano, but i don't have it.
is there any software to tune our piano ? (free software)
and any body has ebook or download link about method to tuning ??
thanks for your help..

Hi!

You're greatly determined and clearly willing to learn. The snotty-nosed nay-sayers are depressing and increasingly I'm avocating people to turn themselves into a Frayed Knot (see https://www.organmatters.co.uk/index.php?topic=268.0 for what this really means) because in order to survive, people have to be flexible and not boring. On

look at all those boring people in the audience waking up and discovering that they don't have to be boring and that they can engage with people and have fun.

End of rant. Sorry. You have enthusiasm and it's a great shame to see people put you down.

Buy a Korg OT120 tuner. With it you'll be able to tune unequal temperaments such as I tuned recently for an experimental session:
[ Invalid YouTube link ]

There's also a programme called TLab97 which can run on a laptop that is great.

You need two tuning wedges (I use paps wedges) and a tuning lever.

Set A first. Put two wedges to blank off the two outer strings of the triplet. With a paps wedge, the two prongs will do it with the one wedge. Always let down the string before you bring it up again. This means first that you check you have the right string and second that it doesn't snag on the agreff or bar. Bring the string up to pitch in a smooth pull. Make sure that you don't lever the pin backwards and forwards, that it's kept upright. Having got the string up to pitch, experiment with small adjustment to see how the string behaves - if you bring it up to pitch and do nothing, perhaps the section near the tuning peg is at a higher tension than the sounding part of the string. So you might have to gently relax it. Play the string hard to see of the vibrations shake the tension through. Having done one string, proceed to the two on either side and make sure that they are tuned to the centre one EXACTLY. No beating. No premature decay of the sound.

With the tuning meter you can do every string likewise. But after the central octave having set the scale, listen to the string that you're tuning and as well as the meter, check it against the note in the central octave. You must wedge off the spare two strings so that you're hearing just one string against one string. There should be no beats. When you get to two octaves above middle C, set the tuner to 441 instead of 440. This will start to stretch the octaves at the top, and be prepared to accept that top notes are tuned percussion rather than notes. Often the notes beat - the string can emit two notes very close together at once. These notes are hell. For the top octave or two octaves, the TuneLab programme can help mor accurately than the Korg tuner.

Bottom two octaves. Tune these both to octaves as well as making sure they sound nice as tenths - an octave and a third. The tenth should sound sweet. When you're experienced, in unequal temperaments, you can tune the bass notes so that their harmonics are in tune with pure intervals in the temperament -

explains a bit about these pure intervals.

There's really not a lot more to tuning than this other than practice - doing it.

When you come to retune your piano, don't stick to 440 - find what most of the strings are in and do it to whatever it is. You want to avoid moving more strings than you need to - and if you do this then your piano will increase in stability over the years. As a result of this philosophy, the piano we use for concerts

can withstand Beethoven and Prokofiev without going out of tune. Often I simply go through the instrument looking for "odd man out" strings - where two are in tune with each other and one is out, then you just need to tune the one that's out to the two that are together.

I hope this helps and gives you the encouragement that you deserve.

Best wishes

David P

[faris]

If they are not very good and they are very very busy, there must be a serious shortage of piano technicians in your area.

that's why i wanna learn how to tune, i wanna be piano tuner for side job in my city, look like this is good oportunity..

[faris]

Hi!

You're greatly determined and clearly willing to learn. The snotty-nosed nay-sayers are depressing and increasingly I'm avocating people to turn themselves into a Frayed Knot (see https://www.organmatters.co.uk/index.php?topic=268.0 for what this really means) because in order to survive, people have to be flexible and not boring. On

look at all those boring people in the audience waking up and discovering that they don't have to be boring and that they can engage with people and have fun.

End of rant. Sorry. You have enthusiasm and it's a great shame to see people put you down.

Buy a Korg OT120 tuner. With it you'll be able to tune unequal temperaments such as I tuned recently for an experimental session:
[ Invalid YouTube link ]

There's also a programme called TLab97 which can run on a laptop that is great.

You need two tuning wedges (I use paps wedges) and a tuning lever.

Set A first. Put two wedges to blank off the two outer strings of the triplet. With a paps wedge, the two prongs will do it with the one wedge. Always let down the string before you bring it up again. This means first that you check you have the right string and second that it doesn't snag on the agreff or bar. Bring the string up to pitch in a smooth pull. Make sure that you don't lever the pin backwards and forwards, that it's kept upright. Having got the string up to pitch, experiment with small adjustment to see how the string behaves - if you bring it up to pitch and do nothing, perhaps the section near the tuning peg is at a higher tension than the sounding part of the string. So you might have to gently relax it. Play the string hard to see of the vibrations shake the tension through. Having done one string, proceed to the two on either side and make sure that they are tuned to the centre one EXACTLY. No beating. No premature decay of the sound.

With the tuning meter you can do every string likewise. But after the central octave having set the scale, listen to the string that you're tuning and as well as the meter, check it against the note in the central octave. You must wedge off the spare two strings so that you're hearing just one string against one string. There should be no beats. When you get to two octaves above middle C, set the tuner to 441 instead of 440. This will start to stretch the octaves at the top, and be prepared to accept that top notes are tuned percussion rather than notes. Often the notes beat - the string can emit two notes very close together at once. These notes are hell. For the top octave or two octaves, the TuneLab programme can help mor accurately than the Korg tuner.

Bottom two octaves. Tune these both to octaves as well as making sure they sound nice as tenths - an octave and a third. The tenth should sound sweet. When you're experienced, in unequal temperaments, you can tune the bass notes so that their harmonics are in tune with pure intervals in the temperament -

explains a bit about these pure intervals.

There's really not a lot more to tuning than this other than practice - doing it.

When you come to retune your piano, don't stick to 440 - find what most of the strings are in and do it to whatever it is. You want to avoid moving more strings than you need to - and if you do this then your piano will increase in stability over the years. As a result of this philosophy, the piano we use for concerts

can withstand Beethoven and Prokofiev without going out of tune. Often I simply go through the instrument looking for "odd man out" strings - where two are in tune with each other and one is out, then you just need to tune the one that's out to the two that are together.

I hope this helps and gives you the encouragement that you deserve.

Best wishes

David P

very nice info,, thanks so much,,

[timothy42b]

Download the free demo software called Tunelab.

The demo version is partly disabled.  After a few notes, it times out and you can't try again for some time period like 60 seconds.  No big deal, you aren't moving fast when you're learning anyway.

This software really works and will take care of stretch and temperament, etc.

But the problem in tuning is moving the hammer.  (oh, forgot, you have to buy a tuning hammer, and the cheap ones aren't very good).  It isn't really a hammer, it's a wrench.  Nobody knows why it's called a hammer but it is.

Learning to move the hammer so that the string is set and stable is as difficult a skill as playing the piano.  That's really what we pay the tuner for.  But over time you can probably learn it.

If you are always careful to have the hammer on the same string you are playing, you will probably never break a string.

If you get the hammer on one string, and hit the key for a different one, you will keep tightening the string until it breaks, guaranteed 100%. 

[faris]

any one had the download link for that software ??
please give me, i can't foun itu on google..

[timothy42b]

any one had the download link for that software ??
please give me, i can't foun itu on google..

https://www.tunelab-world.com/

[faris]

https://www.tunelab-world.com/

thanks for the link, i had tried the software,, it's good however this is trial software,, but i still confused when i compared it with cromatia tuner v3.5 there are some different frequency.. i don't know wich one is correct... ps: i had set A4(440Hz) for default tuning for both software,

[latrobe]

that's why i wanna learn how to tune, i wanna be piano tuner for side job in my city, look like this is good oportunity..

Um.

It will be some time before you can offer professional services. I have now been tuning for two decades . . .

I have done some interesting tuning experiments and at one point during a concert,
[ Invalid YouTube link ]
there is a nasty note that comes through:

I have not revisited the piano yet so I don't know if it's the temperament (he played DELIBERATELY in all the bad keys!) or whether I did not tune the note properly as I was in a hurry or whether I had not set the pin properly, or whether it's a loud-note set of resonances in the piano in this key in this temperament. All the other pieces were fine . . .

Then there is another thing you have to deal with - sometimes notes are not pure, beat within themselves and give an indeterminant note. That is the case in the top octave and a half on this piano which therefore can only give turned percussion in that region . . .

Best wishes

David P

[kristisha]

Hi, please contact Stephen for all your piano tuning needs (914) 275-8388. He is really one of the best tuners in NY.
https://www.looneytuner.com