The pressure of the strings at each of these bearing points creates friction. The string passes over a number of bearing points, dividing the string into different segments.
Therefore, the pin must first be turned a little too far and then eased back into a position where it will stay.Īdditionally, a piano technician must learn how to settle the strings. When the tension is released, the pin will relax back into shape and cause the string to go out of tune. When a tuning pin is turned, it will bend or twist slightly as a result of the tension holding it in place.
In his book Piano Servicing, Tuning, and Rebuilding, author Arthur Reblitz discusses two skills that a piano technician must master in order to tune a piano properly. So, what went wrong? What does the professional piano technician know that you don’t?īelieve it or not, there is an art to piano tuning. And finally, after many painstaking adjustments to get the pins set, many of them simply will not remain in tune. Then you discover that it’s almost impossible to get the pin set just right as even a small adjustment results in a dramatic pitch change. The first thing you notice is that there are a lot of tuning pins on a piano, somewhere between 200 and 230. In a couple of hours, your piano will be perfectly in tune, and you will have saved yourself any money that you would have paid a professional piano technician.īrimming with enthusiasm, you set off on this grand adventure-and then reality strikes. Turn a few tuning pins until your app tells you the pitch is correct, and you’re done. All you need are a few simple tools and a free tuning app on your phone, and you’ll be off and running. If you Google “piano tuning,” you’ll find a lot of posts and videos that tell you anyone can tune their own piano.