Learning to tune a piano?

[ranniks]

The urge to learn this has come to me. I can't always afford to have my piano tuned, so why not learn it once and never have a tuner tune your piano again, right? I bought a pair of clippers and havn't gone to the barbershop in forever. That has helped much in the pocket. Not that I'm comparing the two arts.

I have a fair idea of what I would need, but does anyone have any tips regarding equipment and how to practise? Would it be unwise to practise on your own piano? I'll be really carefull.

[hfmadopter]

If you can understand in english what is being said, this video will explain better the general concept of tuning than thousands of words can do posted in a response to a forum. In fact the later won't say as much.

:

Only you can decide if you are ready for this. I do suggest  working with someone to learn. Barring that, then at the least don't try right away to tune an entire piano that is grossly out of tune but just the strings that are falling out of tune since the most recent tuning. Usually not the whole piano goes totally out at once, often it's just a string here or there. By blocking a single string at a time within a unison you can learn that often pairs of strings are still in tune and one has dropped within a given unison if caught early enough.

Tuning pianos is time consuming. Also understand that it does occur or can occur that a string can break during tuning, especially so with a novice at work with a tuning hammer. I'm not trying to discourage you but make you aware that it is a large task that needs to be taken slowly and over time the skill will build. There is a definite learning curve involved but it also is doable. It still remains so that if your main interest is learning to play piano that tuning will take time away from that activity. By the same token,  once both skills are aquired to a respectable level then both are rewarding, that you become truly the sole proprietor of your piano in every sense.

[silverwoodpianos]

The urge to learn this has come to me. I can't always afford to have my piano tuned, so why not learn it once and never have a tuner tune your piano again, right?

So there is the impression that a machine with some 8-12000 parts only requires tuning?

I bought a pair of clippers and haven’t gone to the barbershop in forever. That has helped much in the pocket.

Well,
We are not offered a photo of the spectacular coiffure are we?

Not that I'm comparing the two arts.

Appears to be a comparison to me.

I have a fair idea of what I would need, but does anyone have any tips regarding equipment and how to practise? Would it be unwise to practise on your own piano? I'll be really carefull.

Over forty years of this trade I have made a lot of money on completing repairs for clients who promised to be careful. So carry on, it will help the trade flourish in your area.

And for the readers who are of the opinion I am being disparaging; incorrect, I am being realistic.

[lacy]

Hi all, Just joined the forum and it seems a great place!

I felt I wanted to reply to this thread if only to share my own experience.

I started playing piano late in life, around 27 years ago at age 24. I was given a rather nice, but modest, upright piano that I had tuned regularly and it held its tune well. After a couple of years I thought the same; that I would like to have a go at tuning my piano. Not so much to save money but because I've always been a 'hands on' type of guy who likes turning his hands to things and understanding how things worked.

What follows is how NOT to try and tune a piano. I started by getting a good unison on A below middle C, then tuned the third above until it was perfectly in tune. then I tuned the third above that, then the third above that (A an octave above). I then played the two A's together to find the octave was massively flat.....I just didn't understand why! This was well before the days of the Internet so I took myself off to my library and took out a few books on piano tuning. This is where I learnt about equal temperament, why you can't tune all the beats out, why a properly tuned piano is actually equally out of tune in all keys, the Pythagorean comma, octave stretching etc. etc. now, all this theory will only get you so far until you actually have a go at tuning a real piano. I tuned mine a couple of times, managed a *fairly* good job of it but could never get it to sound as sweet as a 'real' tuner.....fast forward a few years and I graduated to a beautiful 6'2 Blüthner with Aliquot treble strings....that one was always professionally tuned but, in between tunings, if I detected a string that just needed nipping up here or there, I had the tools and just enough knowledge to allow me to do it.

What I'm trying to say is, I had a whole lot of fun and learnt an awful lot researching and tuning my old upright and don't regret having a crack at it but I wouldn't trust my hamfisted skills on a decent piano. If you bugger up your haircut, don't worry, it will soon grow back. If you crack up a tuning, it could cost you a fair bit in time and money to get it back in tune and stable again!

Your choice.

[keys60]

I too had gotten that bug to tune pianos because I was always just so fascinated by watching my RPT tune my pianos and do minor repairs in the house. Turns out, he teaches apprentices, so I bit. Of course i had to pay him to learn the craft. 3 hours every Saturday. I finally learned how to tune the whole keyboard after about 6 months. The first few were just tuning a few notes and listening to the beats of properly tuned thirds, fourths, fifths and checking the progress with sixths, tenths, thirteenths and so on. I got pretty good at it at close to a year, better after 2 years. In between the tuning lessons were regulations, hammer shaping and parts repair, but we would still after 2 years, set aside one or two lessons per months still dedicated to partials, stability, hammer technique and a lot more. i'm really having fun with this after 5 years and am actually making a few bucks doing tunings and light repairs. I still have a long way to go on the technology end but my customers do like my tunings and call me back. You can learn some basic tuning from a book and videos, but I would recommend learning from a highly experienced RPT if you really want to get good at it. I have two pianos. A Charles Walter that I keep maintained and a Baldwin Spinet that I use for learning purposes. Spinets are more of a PIA to tune than pianos with longer strings and more prominent sounding beats. So far I've regulated it, voiced it, changed the pins and strings (can you believe it? restringing a spinet?) rebushed the flanges, bent damper wires and a host of other regulations and repairs. Like I said, I still have a long way to go. They say you can't tune well until you've tuned 1,000 pianos. I don't know if I'd go that far, but I've done about 700 so far and am still learning. So, give it a whirl. You'll have some frustrating moments and may need your tech to bail you out a few times, but its fun. All the best.

[ranniks]

David, as always, thank you for your wonderfull advise. In all, I have gotten another idea. I was at this second handed shop, and I saw this spinet/upright model piano for about 75 euros. Thinking back to it, I was wondering if I shouldn't just buy a very cheap acoustic piano and practise on that. That seems save.

Silverwood, not to disrespect your trade, but isn't tuning just 1 aspect of your profession? If so, then there is nothing for you to worry about if a pianist wants to learn it.

Lacy, thanks for the advise. If I am financially good, I'll get a cheap piano and practise on that. That thing is going in the garden though, lol. Will probably break the sound board, but hey, won't be playing on it, just fumbling around with it. Will try to coat it with something though to prevent the climate from ruining it.

Thanks keys60, very good advise! That spinet of yours has given me ideas^^.

[kriatina]

Hello, ranniks, just to reiterate what I have said on thehypo’s thread,
 
I tune my piano by using an electronic tuner,
(which I bought straight after buying my piano)
and I also use my ear, and in combination I find this o.k.

Fortunately I did not think about this too long,
otherwise I might have developed doubts
about approaching  my own piano-tuning.

My reasons were economical and also because
the tuner was many miles away and it started
with an urgent need to tune the odd key after a weather change.

At first I too experienced two accidents with broken strings.

I was told a good tip to avoid this happening,
is to first release the tension on the string
BEFORE tightening it to the required tone.
 
Secondly, I make absolutely sure I am tightening
the correct string which I am tuning and listening to,
because otherwise one can tighten the wrong string by mistake
and then easily tighten it to breaking point.

Another point is to make sure I feel really "relaxed"
on the day I am tuning my piano.

These tips have saved me breaking further strings
and I hope this helps and I wish you good luck,

kind regards from Kristina.

[silverwoodpianos]

Silverwood, not to disrespect your trade, but isn't tuning just 1 aspect of your profession? If so, then there is nothing for you to worry about if a pianist wants to learn it.

Why would I worry?  I am neutral on this as a subject. What was posted earlier? Oh right this part….

The urge to learn this has come to me. I can't always afford to have my piano tuned, so why not learn it once and never have a tuner tune your piano again, right? I bought a pair of clippers and havn't gone to the barbershop in forever. That has helped much in the pocket. Not that I'm comparing the two arts.
I have a fair idea of what I would need, but does anyone have any tips regarding equipment and how to practise? Would it be unwise to practise on your own piano? I'll be really carefull.

So let’s go with this part as it is a conflict in the mindset. On one hand there is the claim about not enough funding to tune the instrument.

No problem.

Just a quick question about that part; if there is not enough funding for a tuning is there funding in place for repairs if you break something?

I will leave that to the experts you have helping you in this thread.  Best of luck with the training.

[rocklandpiano]

Your interest in learning to tune is admirable and can lead to an interesting and fulfilling career. Be advised, however, it takes considerable commitment, time and work to properly develop the skills necessary to become proficient. People sometimes want to tune their own pianos and learn a little to do that with wildly varying degrees of success. To be a professional worthy of charging clients however is another matter.

[pianomarc]

I live on a tiny island where there are no tuners available and so I had to learn to tune the hard way. I am lucky to have a good friend who is a professional tuner and he sourced some equipment for me, gang mute, felt damping strip, rubber wedges and a crank etc. He has also sent me over the years tins of piano wire in many gauges and spent a number of his visits going over the process of tuning and replacing strings.  I THINK i have got the hang of it but always have doubts even though the piano sounds nice and in tune. He never uses any electronics, its all done to a fork so I learned that way too.  What I can't do is all of the other important regulating and tweaks, he helps when he visits where he can, but theres a lot can go wrong.  After 10 years,  what I can basically do is keep the piano in tune rather than claim I can tune a piano, but I did have a go at one that was being scrapped if it didn't sound ok at the end.  I managed the tuning -in fact I was quite pleased with it, and that piano was kept and is still in use at a restaurant but there are many mechanical problems with it that I just can't rectify.
My friend also sent me a copy of Piano Tuning by J Cree Fischer which goes into some detail about he basic techniques required, but piano tuning as a profession is a complicated apprenticeship and shouldn't be underestimated.