Tuning Once a Month? Crazy!

[malcolmdominique]

Me and my piano tuner have been joking lately. More like he has been poking fun at me.

Does anyone else like having their piano tuned once a month?

I have a 9 foot Baldwin piano from the early 1900s that has been rebuilt with new everything. I practice a few hours a day playing things like Beethoven, Liszt, Rach, Chopin, and after about 3 weeks I always think, "hmmm I think I want it tuned again."

It's not like the piano is outright offensive or anything. It still sounds great but I can just tell that it is not "quite in tune" after a few weeks so I have my piano tuner come out every month on the first Saturday. Maybe I am spoiled? I don't know.

My technician always tell me that I am his only person that has their home piano tuned monthly but I couldn't imagine waiting 3+ months between tunings, I think I would go crazy!

[iansinclair]

Good heavens.  I'd love to have my pianos (a Steinway A and a Steinway M) tuned once a month!  However, there is no way the budget could stand it.  If something goes off enough to annoy, I touch it up a bit myself.  The A is tuned twice a year.  The M, once, in the spring (it's in an unheated space).

I'd love to have the budget, though...

[toughbo]

Where I live it's impossible to get a tuner as often as once a month, and tunings is around $200, so the answer is: yes

[quantum]

I touch up tune frequently, sometimes daily.  Full tuning at least twice a year.  Additionally, a full tuning in between the regular ones if I have a recording project or the weather swings drastically.  However, I do my own tuning, so there are cost savings.  The tech comes in for repairs, voicing, and regulation issues. 

[themaximillyan]

Me and my piano tuner have been joking lately. More like he has been poking fun at me.

Does anyone else like having their piano tuned once a month?

I have a 9 foot Baldwin piano from the early 1900s that has been rebuilt with new everything. I practice a few hours a day playing things like Beethoven, Liszt, Rach, Chopin, and after about 3 weeks I always think, "hmmm I think I want it tuned again."

It's not like the piano is outright offensive or anything. It still sounds great but I can just tell that it is not "quite in tune" after a few weeks so I have my piano tuner come out every month on the first Saturday. Maybe I am spoiled? I don't know.

My technician always tell me that I am his only person that has their home piano tuned monthly but I couldn't imagine waiting 3+ months between tunings, I think I would go crazy!

I dare assume that your technician is cunning. He perfectly understands "where the dog is buried!" And why good pitch yours piano enough for a month only! But... all more come to you because NEED make good temperament!
Yours piano does not hold  a pitch well! Is it so?! The reason is banal is the bad fixation (holder) of a pin. The technician who did the repairs yours(  has been rebuilt with new everything) did it badly, I'm think. Music salon (shop) mislead you and therefore I advise you to meet an independent professional piano tecnician and file a suit with the court
regards, Max from Kazakhstan

[dogperson]

I dare assume that your technician is cunning. He perfectly understands "where the dog is buried!" And why good pitch yours piano enough for a month only! But... all more come to you because NEED make good temperament!
Yours piano does not hold  a pitch well! Is it so?! The reason is banal is the bad fixation (holder) of a pin. The technician who did the repairs yours(  has been rebuilt with new everything) did it badly, I'm think. Music salon (shop) mislead you and therefore I advise you to meet an independent professional piano tecnician and file a suit with the court
regards, Max from Kazakhstan

Max
I don't think any conclusion can be drawn from monthly tunings until we know how much out of tune the piano is in a month......,..maybe the pitch has not changed much but the OP is sensitive to small variations that would not be heard by most of us

[themaximillyan]

Max
I don't think any conclusion can be drawn from monthly tunings until we know how much out of tune the piano is in a month......,..maybe the pitch has not changed much but the OP is sensitive to small variations that would not be heard by most of us

Agree,
But... We must have small video (before and past) tuning. And that can be clear. Or bad tech.man or bad loose tuning pin

[indianajo]

Some pianos have tighter pin blocks than others.  My beautiful sounding, fast 1982 Sohmer 39, alas need touching up the treble tune about every month.  It has a 5 ply pin block. It is not any particular pin, it is them all.
OTOH, my very similar sounding 1940 Steinway 40, with the solid pin block holds tune about 18 months.  Go figure. 
Yes, if it is always the same note that needs tuning, then it would be productive to put adhesive, a cardboard shim, or a bigger pin in that hole.  Most piano "tuners" are not really repairmen and at least in my area, would never attempt that job. 

[Bob]

I remember a prof saying the tuning lost a little "shine" or something even after a day.  Practice on it for a day after it's tuned and it goes out a little just from the hammers hitting the strings.  If someone can afford it, I could see someone doing that.  Although if you're going to spend that much, why not invest in climate controlling the room more?  There's still no way around the hammer hitting issue though.

[themaximillyan]

Some pianos have tighter pin blocks than others.  My beautiful sounding, fast 1982 Sohmer 39, alas need touching up the treble tune about every month.  It has a 5 ply pin block. It is not any particular pin, it is them all.
OTOH, my very similar sounding 1940 Steinway 40, with the solid pin block holds tune about 18 months.  Go figure.  
Yes, if it is always the same note that needs tuning, then it would be productive to put adhesive, a cardboard shim, or a bigger pin in that hole.  Most piano "tuners" are not really repairmen and at least in my area, would never attempt that job.  

Agrees with you,indianajo
 about a try to pull up of a pin a bit the next day after the main tuning. This is true and must be done always.
If the tuner is not a repairman. Does not own method of cardboard shim,  an using of a CA, etc., but must communicate with the client and talk about "bad tones" with him (her)
But if you need to do the following tuning it's "bad tones", that a client must know that it's fix for will long time now, I think. Otherwise, a tuner misleads the customer. Or ... do not take payment, visiting again your customer
In theory, a string can partially drift around the agraf where mute zone of a string, on the bridge pins and pins of a hitch too

[hfmadopter]

Look, a piano gets tuned. Then we proceed to beat it out of tune, plus humidity changes etc. Ya I tune mine frequently but I do it myself. If I stay on top of it it's not a big chore anyway. Except spring and fall, I set it to 438 in the winter but summer humidity pulls it up to 440 at least. Lets put it this way, I round it out to 440 in the summer but prefer it at 438, always have. It's a late 1800's piano, nobody is going to tell me those old pianos are more stable than good quality newer ones. The price of admission to that old time sound though is do it yourself if you want it in tune. Soon as I hear anything the least bit off, I'm isolating the source and taking care of it. I can't stand playing an out of tune piano, I can't make the sound I expect to hear.