While many factors can affect the tuning of your piano the main ones are:

    * Changes to temperature
    * Changes to humidity
    * How often the piano is played

How often should you tune your piano? Given the wide variations in weather conditions in Southern Ontario it is best for most people to have their piano tuned twice a year, once a year at minimum.

I charge $100.00 for a Standard Tuning in my regular coverage area of the western Greater Toronto Area.

Pianos that have not been tuned for an especially long time, longer even than 1 year, will often require a Pitch Raise prior to tuning being done on the instrument.

A Pitch Raise and Tuning is $160.00 and can sometimes be accomplished in a single visit.

Yes, I can tune and make mechanical repairs to fender Rhodes electric pianos.

How often should a piano be tuned?

On average, in a fairly stable environment a piano should be tuned at least every six months to a year. Any longer than a year and extra work may be required to bring it back into stable tuning. Pianos exposed to changing humidity, such as a home heated in the winter but humid in summer, will need attention from a tuner more often. Any piano that is moved to a new location will need tuning. It may be best to let the piano adjust to the new environmental conditions before tuning, if possible; otherwise the piano may need tuning again soon as it adjusts to new humidity levels. Professional pianists often require that their pianos be tuned before every performance. New pianos usually require tuning several times in the first year until the new strings settle.

Why do pianos go out of tune?

The main reason is changes in humidity. Much of a piano's workings are wood, which shrinks and expands as humidity changes. For example, as the home heating season begins, and dry, heated air replaces more the humid air of other seasons, the wood dries and shrinks. This reduces tension on the soundboard, and the notes sound flat. Other common reasons a piano goes out of tune include the jostling of a move, or loose tuning pins that slip. If the same notes tend to go flat time after time, it may be that the tuning pins are slipping, reducing tension on the strings, thus making them flat. And of course, the more often a piano is played the more likely the tuning will be affected.

What is a "pitch raise" or "pitch adjustment"?

A pitch raise is essentially an extensive tuning that must be done on a piano that is very out of tune, such as one left un-tuned for several years or more. When a piano is left un-tuned for a long time, so many strings become out of tune that the tension across the entire soundboard changes. In this condition, tuning one string will affect the tuning on other strings. A vicious cycle ensues where previously tuned notes lose tune every time a new note is tuned, like a dog chasing its tail. To correct for this, the tuner will do a pitch raise, where every string's tension is adjusted in one pass, to bring the tension on the entire soundboard close to what is desired. Then, often after a resting period, the tuner can perform the precise tuning of individual strings without affecting the others. Several passes may be needed before the pitches stabilize. Click here to learn more about pitch raises from the Piano Technician's Guild.