Tuning your own piano?

[virtuoso80]

Recently, in order to try and save money, I thought I would get a tuning hammer and start tuning my piano myself.

...it turns out: Tuning a piano is hard. Not only that, but the loose-fitting $40 hammer I bought wasn't going to cut it. I wound up returning it.

Now I'm getting the inspiration to try again, but properly this time. So I ask: Does anyone tune their own piano? What is the minimum amount of equipment, and equipment quality, I'll need to do the job right? How much time did it take you to learn how to do a decent job at it?

[andreslr6]

for just tuning you need the hammer, a diapason and the cloths and gummy things they use to mute strings. I know of a few pianists that tune it before playing, but it's just a quick "clean up" tuning before the recital, trying to do a full tuning needs years of practice and a guide. Read a book and/or ask a piano tuner to help you and teach you.

BTW, I DON'T recommend to attempt tuning a piano without having any knowledge or a guide that taught you, I wouldn't risk it at least.

[kriatina]

I tune my piano by using an electronic tuner
and I also use my ear, and in combination I find this o.k.

I had no other choice because the tuner lives too far away.

At first I experienced two accidents with broken strings.

I was then told that a good tip to avoid this happening
is to release the tension on the string
BEFORE tightening it to the required tone.
 
Secondly, I make absolutely sure I am tightening the "right string",
otherwise I might tighten the "wrong string" by mistake
which so easily could tighten it to breaking point
without me noticing until it is too late...

These two tips have saved me breaking more strings
and have assisted me to avoid further catastrophies.

I was also reading in a book that piano tuning is a highly developed craft
and an art, usually taken on by highly trained professionals ...
and "doing it yourself" should not be taken on lightly.

I hope this helps you and I wish you good luck

from Kristina.

[hfmadopter]

Recently, in order to try and save money, I thought I would get a tuning hammer and start tuning my piano myself.

...it turns out: Tuning a piano is hard. Not only that, but the loose-fitting $40 hammer I bought wasn't going to cut it. I wound up returning it.

Now I'm getting the inspiration to try again, but properly this time. So I ask: Does anyone tune their own piano? What is the minimum amount of equipment, and equipment quality, I'll need to do the job right? How much time did it take you to learn how to do a decent job at it?

I tune my own piano, it's an ever onward experience not so different from learning to play piano. I started by touch up tuning in between professional tunings as I practiced so much years ago that I'd have had the tuner in once a month I think. I have a cridical ear for piano tune, if a string drops slightly in any unisone it bothers me so I quickly learned to fix that when it happened and slowly went on from there. I now have not had a tuner in the house for years.

I bought an interchangeable tip style tuning hammer. There are various numbered tips that fit these hammers for various types of pins found in pianos. Most modern pianos will use a number 2 tip though. Modern being from about 1885 forward with a few acceptions. It is a Shaff and Hale tuning hammer, angled tip with a wood handle on it. I have a couple of rubber mutes and a felt strip mute. Look to spend between $70-$100 to get a good hammer/lever. I also use a Korg electronic meter. If you do this, I recommend the book by Arthur Reblitz entitled Piano servicing, tuning and rebuilding. Get the book first, before you buy anything else and read about the tools to look for first.

[indianajo]

I tune with a Sears Craftsman 5/16" socket, quarter drive, a long handled allen 5/16" wrench, two rolls of coins. and a guitar tuning fork.  Wear safety glasses, if you break a string it could hit your eyes.  Listen to what you are doing and don't turn much at a time, that prevents you from going too far if you get the wrong string.  Use a lot of light. Hold the socket straight, if you get off alignment you could damage the peg.  Anybody with mechanic experience know how to hold the wrench straight on the fastener head.  The pros trained by pros on here have a cat when I say that, but I've been tuning my piano 20 years and broke one A#5 string in that time, no particular reason detected.   I pluck the string with my finger then follow it up with my eyes to the pin that needs adjustment.  The coins are to keep the dampers off on the two notes, the one I am tuning and the reference tone.  Plucking the string won't work if you are a pro, your fingernails would wear out, but I only tune one piano a quarter at the most.  Don't pull up pitch a lot in one session, you have no reason to go all the way on a note that is far out, it doesn't cost you anything to come back tomorrow and go a little more.  
Tuning a bit flat from a perfect fifth helps achieve equal temperment, (perfect octaves), that is tune D-A, A-E, E-B, B-F#, F#-C# etc till you work your way back to D and see how far off you are from an octave.  But the top octave needs "stretch" as the overtones are out of tune with the fundamental and can confuse my ear. I can't use the middle notes as reference for the top octave. Luckily, when I bought a Hammond H100 organ, and tuned to the pure sine waves of that, i was able to quit retuning the top octave for every different key I played in. I don't think other hammond models have stretch. I won't be buying any electronic tuners any time soon.   I object to buying everything from a country that treats its workers like ****. Same problem with tuning wrenches. The name brand of the tuning wrench from 20 years ago doesn't tell you anything about its quality now.  There are a lot of people who have gotten very rich by paying to have the appearance of quality products copied, by having them sourced from the land of imitation steel, imitation concrete, imitation milk, polluted city water, etc etc etc.  If you can buy a genuine antique tuning wrench from a retiring pro, wonderful, but i wouldn't trust anything new for sale by mail order, internet, or phone order.  The Sears wrench is not quite the tapered shape, but it is made out of real steel, and can be modified out to a taper with a real nicholson file if you're worried about it.  

[michaeljames]

I touch up unisons, but that's my limit.  The real knack is in not only getting the unison, but most importantly locking it in. 

There's a real knack to that, and I cannot say I've been that successful.

[ajspiano]

I plan on doing the same thing some time over the next year or so.

I also plan on acquiring an older beaten up piano that I can justify ruining to practice on. Not too infrequently in my area families with older pianos that their children learnt on are trying to get rid of them and can't..  they end up advertised as "free" and you only have to pay what ever it will cost you to move it..  I'm going to round up one or two of these for the initial part of my technicians self-study.

[hfmadopter]

I touch up unisons, but that's my limit.  The real knack is in not only getting the unison, but most importantly locking it in. 

There's a real knack to that, and I cannot say I've been that successful.

For me locking has occured best by overshooting the pitch you need to tune to and letting the string down to pitch. On some loose pins it can help to take your left hand and give direct downward pressure on top of the tuning hammer. You have to be careful not to twist the pin off axis by not leaning on the hammer handle.  I had a tuner in here years ago who used to try and get a lock that way on my old loose upright tuning pins but that method ( off axis pressure on the handle) is incorrect..

Sometimes, in fact mostly, you can feel the correct pitch just kind of snap into place with a good lock when backing down on the pitch. Don't way overshoot, just noticable is enough. If you just pull up and stop there the lock will be off pitch in a few days on it's own. Try it both ways, I think you will find there is real difference.

[hfmadopter]

I tune with a Sears Craftsman 5/16" socket, quarter drive, a long handled allen 5/16" wrench, two rolls of coins. and a guitar tuning fork.  Wear safety glasses, if you break a string it could hit your eyes.  Listen to what you are doing and don't turn much at a time, that prevents you from going too far if you get the wrong string.  Use a lot of light. Hold the socket straight, if you get off alignment you could damage the peg.  Anybody with mechanic experience know how to hold the wrench straight on the fastener head.  The pros trained by pros on here have a cat when I say that, but I've been tuning my piano 20 years and broke one A#5 string in that time, no particular reason detected.   

Indianajo, I find many of your methods loaded with old home style enginuity and it doesn't matter to me what you use to tune your piano. I'm glad you are successful in fact. But please let a new person at trying to tune his own piano at least aquire the correct tool and give himself a fighting chance ! Not everyone is as crafty as you.

The new Shaff and Hale's I've seen look just as well made as the old ones and aren't worn out. Just because it's made overseas doesn't mean it's made of inferiour materials any more. Plenty of good tooling and engineers have gone over there from these compaines that have done so, to ensure the product produced is satisfactory. We aren't in the seventies anymore when anything imported and not expensive was junk. 

That's a whole different matter anyway and I'm not here to argue with anyone, especially when the argument could turn polical ( a forums worst nightmare)... Seriously though, you can't expect a newby to follow your lead and you won't get a seasoned pro to either. So that doesn't leave a whole bunch of people to do so !