Guestbook   Show guestbook | Sign guestbook | Statistics | Search | Back to main index

# Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |

EntryNo: 62  Date: Thursday 22:02 09.27.2007 Patty / St Louis Hello. What a fine site! Thank you. I may be inheriting a 150 yr-old "square" piano that I haven't seen for 45 years or so...it's been in storage.. Can you give me any pointers as to how I should examine the sound board, to see if it can be tuned? Also, if pins are loose, must they be replaced, or is there a way to tighten them? Thanks so much for your help. Comment:If the piano has been left out of tune for a long period of time, the soundboard may have lost its shape due to the prolonged lack of tension. I do not know how to visually tell if this is the case. It may respond to the multiple-pass tuning procedure called "raising the pitch," but that is beyond the scope of this tutorial, and my experience. If it has been tuned regularly over most of its life, I'd guess it can be whipped into shape, though it might take a professional tuner. Tightening pins is an involved procedure, too, and is probably best handled by a professional technician. Some the links to other websites I provide can give you some insight into the procedure if you want to investigate.  EntryNo: 61  Date: Wednesday 19:31 09.26.2007 Leslie Watched a friend tune an old piano some years ago. When I bought an old beater piano at the Salvation Army, I got my own tuning wrench. Very many of the keys were quite out of tune. When it's an old piano who cares if you're a bit nervous to try it. I paid $133.00 for the piano. Didn't have an electronic tuner. Started with 2 C-keys away from the central octaves. The central octaves were the most out of tune. I think kids had been pounding on it. The edges of the ivory on all but 2 keys is chipped. When you find 2-c notes that sound the same to the ear, then tune middle c to match. I worked up and down the keyboard, finding any 2 keys that matched, then tuning keys in other octaves to match. about 3 hours, and she was playable again. A note on purchasing an old piano: When you try the notes and you can't find any that are in tune, the whole steel frame that the strings are mounted to is warped,and the thing will never stay in tune. The warp will just twist and turn in different directions as you change the string tension as you tune. Pick a piano on which you can find a few matched notes in different octaves. That one will have potential.  EntryNo: 60  Date: Sunday 17:10 09.23.2007 Ian Hi, interesting site. True that good professional help can be hard to come by, so sometimes DIY is a viable option. A comment on posting #18: the plate holds the strings, but the sound ultimately comes from the soundboard, which is connected to the plate via the bridge, like other stringed instruments (guitar, violin). A small hole may not be the end of the piano, depending on the size of the mouse! :) Comment:Thanks for your comments. I have corrected my reply to #18, removing the misleading information.  EntryNo: 59  Date: Friday 11:37 09.14.2007 Gordon Thank you very much for offering this web site. I am a retired research chemist, and have been playing the piano 70 years. I now think that it time that I learned to keep my own piano in tune. I am in the process of trying to do this, and I find that your advise is very helpful to me. Thank you again.  EntryNo: 58  Date: Tuesday 12:35 09.11.2007 Beth Thanks for the info on your website. I have tuned my piano before, however rather poorly, and I was searching for sites just like this one that might offer some helpful tips. I also had been using a tuning fork in the past, though my hearing is not as good as it had been in the past. I ordered a tuner like the one you have from Shoreline. I'm excited to receive it so I can play my piano without so much misery. Thanks again for your very nice website! It was easy to navigate and understand. ~Beth  EntryNo: 57  Date: Wednesday 02:42 08.29.2007 Glenn Thank you, this advise is really great. One thing is stopping me from tuning though. I have bought the apprentise Tuning Kit and have a Hammer with an interchangeable head. The problem is I can only tune sharp (to the right) as when I tune flat (to the left) the head screws off the hammer. Tuning to the right tightens the head to the hammer, but it loosens when i tune the other way!! How do I overcome this? Comment:On my tuning hammer (see the pictures on the site) the head is perpendicular to the handle so that what you describe cannot happen. It sounds like you have a poorly designed hammer. I would contact the seller. Alternatively, you could wrap the screw threads of the handle with a little electrical tape or if that is too thick maybe some teflon tape used in plumbing. The friction might keep the head from unscrewing.  EntryNo: 56  Date: Wednesday 00:13 08.22.2007 pier francesco 'pippi' leardi many thanks...very interesting.i'm a pianist and keyboardist.only vintage gear.  EntryNo: 55  Date: Sunday 13:21 07.15.2007 Dr. Chrstopher Griffen Simply an excellent primer in getting started. As an accomplished pianist for the passed 46 years I truly appreciate the important details you touched base on. As a vibroacoustics engineer by career, the technically unique approach to bring "perfect and undistorted" spectral sound power from this instrument is highly challenging! Dr.G  EntryNo: 54  Date: Sunday 04:41 07.15.2007 Brad I have been playing the piano for 20 years and I live in a small town in North Carolina by which there is only one tuner in town. He will be retiring soon and I would like to learn more about tuning on a professional level. I am sure it takes years of experience to learn. Is there a technical course that can be taken to learn this trade? Comment:Indeed there is. Go to www.ptg.org, the website of the Piano Technicians Guild to get started.  EntryNo: 53  Date: Friday 17:33 07.13.2007 nate Thanks! I was happy to see this site. A generous soul gave my wife and me a small upright, but it is in some places a whole step flat. I've been tuning guitars for a long, long , long time, but this is my 1st acoustic piano. Your approach is basic and simple yet thorough without too much "fringe" info-. Having a forum for other "tunists" to add more detailed stuff is a big plus. Excellent!!!  EntryNo: 52  Date: Saturday 10:35 07.07.2007 Ben W. - Austin, TX Hi. Great site. I'm an adult beginning player. I was wondering if you could add any information on different tempering systems. I understand that Well Temperment is starting to be used again by some players. How about Just Intonation? Comment:I have not tried any alternate temperaments myself. See the comment immediately above this for some ideas from another tuner.  EntryNo: 51  Date: Friday 14:10 06.29.2007 Musicologist Thanks for posting this very helpful and encouraging material. I just tried my first tuning and I'm very pleased with the results. I've got it to the point where it sounds like it usually does 2-4 weeks after a pro tuning. Hopefully it'll be even closer next time. I was hardly in a desparate situation -- it had been a year since the last professional tuning, so I decided to try it myself when I found out I could get everything I needed for less than the cost of having it tuned once professionally. I wouldn't have wanted to start with anything worse than a piano one year out though. Here are some things that helped me. 1) This website was especially helpful: http://members.aol.com/chang 8828/tuning.htm It provided a good idea of what to expect, esp. with regard to the feel of the tuning hammer. 2) Definitely get the best hammer you can afford. I got a pretty heavy one, and I can't imagine getting though it with anything skimpier. 3) Muting felt was very useful for setting a reference octave (I went with F3-F4) and allowed me to get going more quickly. 4) I found that I got much better results once I started ignoring the electronic tuner for the most part and went about things by ear. My AC may have been throwing it off. I followed the advice of the website above and tuned to Kirnberger 2 (an 18th century well-tempered tuning) -- it's not too tough if you've got a good ear for perfect intervals. 5) Much respect to the pros! My first go at this took HOURS -- so be patient... In the end it wasn't perfect (although it is better than it was) and probably isn't set too well, so I'll probably be reaching for my hammer in another month or two to touch it up. I'm just amazed that the pros can work so quickly and accurately. Thanks again! Comment:Thank you for your comments. I reference the very good Chang site in the further-info links on my site. I agree with going by ear as soon as you can, and encourage that in my website. I usually use the electronic tuner only for the first octave, and that seems to work well. An external mic, or pick-ups, which is available for the CA-30, might help tuning in environments with significant background noise.  EntryNo: 50  Date: Thursday 10:03 06.14.2007 Comicbook I was delighted to find this site; I think it's absolutely wonderful that a "How To" guide for tuning pianos exists on the Net. I just received my tuning materials in the mail and I'm anxious to get started. My question is: For a note with 3 strings, how do I position the mute wedges correctly, especially when trying to tune the middle string? To clarify, let me label each string. #1 = Left String, #2 = Middle String, #3 = Right String. If I wanted to tune the middle string, where would I put my rubber mutes? In between strings #1 and #2 AND between strings #2 and #3 (in that case, I would not be able to hear much of a note)? Or do I just use one mute? After tuning the middle string, where would I position the mutes? Also, while tuning one key, how do I prevent other keys around it from going out of tune? Thanks in advance! Comment:To tune #1, put one wedge between #2 & #3, so that it mutes both #2 & #3 at the same time. To tune #3, put one wedge between #1 and #2. To tune the middle string, put a wedge under #1 and another edge under #3, such that the wedge is between the wooden sound board and the string. Work from the outside edge, that is, insert the wedge from the left for the left string and from the right for the right string. The other keys should not go out of tune while tuning one key. If you are tuning a piano that has been left in poor tune or untuned for many years, you may need to repeat the tuning several times to get it to hold. (See "raising the pitch" in my article.)  EntryNo: 49  Date: Wednesday 14:28 06.06.2007 Jeff Thank you so much for this page! I followed your instructions as a general guide, and bought exactly what you said. I pretty much know zip about music but understand frequencies very well (as an electrical engineering student) and the mechanics of a piano are easy for me so with your advice I gave it a go. I don't think the spinet piano we acquired off of inlaws had been tuned since 1965, but after several tuning sessions over a week (and some mechanical touch ups to the felt pads in the keys) it plays wonderfully. I now see what you say by being able to tune up an octave in a jiffy with keeping the tools nearby. My wife is tickled pink and my son-in-law, who plays professionally, was impressed! I just want to say thank you, it has been an extremely invaluable learning experience!  EntryNo: 48  Date: Sunday 14:27 06.03.2007 Joe karwacki Good website, but occasionally a little misleading? I am a pro tuner and I think a lot of emphsis is placed on the simplicity aspect and ALTHOUGH very good advice is given in the area of noting that pianos are pretty complex, I'd re-emphasize that you really need to ascertain if you should be noodling with "your" piano. I have, for 35 years, been cleaning up after what I call the "handy-husband" ie: the piano owner who is going to fix it themselves and breaks something or makes a real mess of what "I think is simple". As weird as this may sound, having a good ear is really one least important aspects of the task. The real "skill" is knowing how to manipulate the friction-fit tuning pin into moving to the correct position and then "staying" where you want it to sound right. Just like playing a note on a piano is a simple enough task, much practice is needed to accomplish the skill of actually playing. I was once told, in my early years, that it takes about 1000 full piano tunings before you really "get the hang of it" and then begin to really understand what the piano is telling you. The topic of musical pitch is really cool and very interesting to us "sound nerds" and I love sharing what I know about it with people. The fact of the matter is this, learning about piano tuning is on par with peeling an onion. Just when you remove one layer, there is another to consider. I am glad people are interested and wish them well. Normally what happens is a much greater appreciation for the piano tuner is gained when people investigate and try their hand at it. Good luck to everyone and don't be discouraged from playing, even if you resort to hiring a trained tuner. Best to all. Joe Comment:Thanks for your insight. I have highlighted what I found to be the most valuable of your comments. Many people see my website and think that I am saying this is easy. If you read carefully, I emphasize that it is deceptively simple. That is, there's not much to putting on a wrench and turning a pin. There IS a lot to knowing how to turn that pin *just right* for a good, lasting sound. Only experience, the kind a professional has, can give you a professional tuning. Still, with care, I believe you can do a passable job yourself. If you want a high-quality, lasting tuning, call a pro.  EntryNo: 47  Date: Monday 13:34 05.07.2007 danny i bought a tuning wrench that was 1/4 in. star tip thinking my piano pins were taht size, but it is a little too big for my pins; i'm trying to look for a tip that will fit the pin but i'm getting frustrated looking online because they don't tell me the actual size the tip will fit; any suggestions? i think my pins are zither/tapered pins Comment:I would try Pianosupplies.com. If you don't see what you need, email the store staff. They can be very helpful.  EntryNo: 46  Date: Monday 11:21 05.07.2007 Woosa Awesome guide! especially the mp3 to demonstrate the beats. I will give it a try. Thanks!  EntryNo: 45  Date: Friday 07:11 05.04.2007 Kristen This is great! My friends told me about this website. Can't wait to get started!  EntryNo: 44  Date: Friday 12:24 04.27.2007 Allie This is really great information! I had no idea tuning a piano could really be so complicated, being as tuning a harpsichord isn't extremely demanding. I can't wait to try it! (just as soon as I can convince my parents to purchase the tools...)  EntryNo: 43  Date: Sunday 14:42 04.22.2007 magoo Thanks for your help with my math project. the info was really helpful and self explanitory! thanks again!  EntryNo: 42  Date: Saturday 08:25 04.14.2007 Rodney Zammit I have been searching around lots of sites and books, but i couldn't get the tips and links that i wanted. Fortunately, i came across this site which i find VERY interesting and challenging. I live in a small island called Malta (Europe) and due to its size, no one wants to give away his skills regarding Piano Tuning. Thanks to you i can begin my own tuning .  EntryNo: 41  Date: Sunday 14:37 04.08.2007 William E. Calkins I purchased an old piano years ago and it has been sitting in the corner of my dining room since. Found your site on first internet search on how to tune a piano. I'll give more feedback when I have purchased tools and done some tuning. Bill  EntryNo: 40  Date: Friday 11:09 03.23.2007 Lisa I live in Hay River, Northwest Territories and it is difficult to get tuners to come up here, so I decided to teach myself. Thanks for the great advice!  EntryNo: 39  Date: Wednesday 18:28 03.21.2007 Dale Do you have a good source for replacement strings? I saved the old (broken) string, as my research found that it's important to match the length as well as size. The sources I found were darned expensive! Thanks for the great info. I am a lady who is a confirmed do-it-yourselfer. As a child, I used to tune the piano we had at home and don't recall having any trouble doing it, but I thought it best to get information before starting. I have a good ear so don't expect any trouble, unless replacing the string proves troublesome. Comment:I have not attempted those kinds of repairs. Another guest book signer recommends kspiano . com. They do sell a wide variety of parts, including strings. I have no personal experience with them.  EntryNo: 38  Date: Friday 13:01 03.16.2007 mich hi, thanks for your advice it was very helpful, I couldn't find any tuning equipment in the uk, but managed to get it from www. kspiano .com, in the usa.  EntryNo: 37  Date: Friday 15:26 03.02.2007 Edward L Myers I had tried to get my piano tuned on a couple of occasions but could not get a tuner to commit to a specific date and time. Your web site convinced me that I can do it myself. Thank you  EntryNo: 36  Date: Wednesday 21:25 02.28.2007 Richard We are in the Republic of Panama and cannot find a piano tuner anywhere. SO... I bought a piano wrench from EBay and today is my big day trying to do it myself. Thanks for your valuable advice, will sure try it.  EntryNo: 35  Date: Sunday 17:06 02.25.2007 nlapjr Thank you very much for the information. It really removed the mystery from piano tuning. I have always had this feeling it was not that complicated. Now I know for sure it is within reach.Keep up the good work.  EntryNo: 34  Date: Tuesday 18:02 02.13.2007 ben b hi, thanks for the tutorial! Just wanted to let you know that I found a piano lever on samash . com for only 7.99! K&M 16610 Piano Tuning Lever (K16610NXX) Comment:Hi, Ben, thanks for reading. The tuning hammer you found is a "gooseneck" style. These are typically inexpensive, as you found. But, the shallow bend can make the more difficult to use, that is, harder to feel small movements in the pin. I have not used one myself, I am just report what I have heard professionals say. If it works for you, great, just take extra care to learn the feel of the tool. I spent more for an apprentice-quality hammer, and I have no complaints. Good luck!  EntryNo: 33  Date: Saturday 12:48 02.10.2007 Don M My son and I were attempting to tune a piano we recently received (I was trying to use my guitar tuner and a craftsman tool kit) and we realized we had some questions...It was great to have your website come up on our 1st search attempt and give us a step by step approach using much of the same technique. (It was very nice to open your webpage and see exactly what we have been looking at for the past hour). I am still a bit unsure about tightening or looseing the pins: Is there any inward or outward pressure exerted to make it possible to turn the pin? In other words, does the pin turn "as is" with considerable torque or does it need to be pulled out, turned and then "set" back in? We are attempting this with a modified ratchet and bit, so I am wondering if there is something special about the student tuner that enables this... It seems unlikely, but I am being conservative to avoid breaking a pin. Thank you for the great website. Don M. McKinney, TX Comment:It is strictly a radial turn, like a screw. Do not pull or push on the pin. And make sure your ratchet bit is a perfect fit. Any play can damage the pin head, and will also make it difficult to make the super-fine adjustments required. I always recommend getting a proper tuning wrench for the safety and control. The long handle will give you leverage, too, which will enable you to get those tight pins moving. It's possible that the handle on your ratchet is too short. And take care to avoid any wiggling or side-to-side motion on those tight pins to avoid sheering or breaking them. Good luck!  EntryNo: 32  Date: Thursday 13:29 02.01.2007 CF05 Thanks for your website, it taught me everything I needed to know to tune my old studio piano!!! According to the sticker inside the lid, it had last been tuned in 1962!!! It sounds like new again and I'm now playing it more often because of it. So, thanks again for the help your website provides.  EntryNo: 31  Date: Monday 23:40 01.29.2007 junee Hi. It's so hard to find a Piano Tuner in my area. Either they don't want to touch old pianos or they are just too darn expensive. After reading your site, I have decided to give it a try and do it myself. As a woman, the insides of a piano sure put me off, but I do have a good hearing, so I'm gonna give it a go. I'll keep you up to date if I "succeed" or not. Comment:Please tell me how it goes for you!  EntryNo: 30  Date: Saturday 02:42 12.30.2006 Andrei Segois Thank you for the useful informations! I advice you to write more about the right way to hold the hammer and tricks for tuning stability (aka setting the pin correctly). Comment:Thanks for your suggestion. In the meantime, I refer readers to the other websites and books mentioned on my page for further information.  EntryNo: 29  Date: Wednesday 02:05 12.27.2006 Syd Gage Brilliant info. Thanks! My daughter has just been given a very old upright piano which has a few strings that need tuning. I offered to have a go at tuning it for her if she could buy a tuning wrench, but when she approached a local piano dealer to buy one, she was told it wasn't possible for anyone unskilled to tune a piano! I hope to prove them wrong. I have played and tuned a 12 string guitar for many years so hopefully will cope ok. Will let you know how I get on. Thanks for all the info. Syd Gage. East Yorkshire, England.  EntryNo: 28  Date: Tuesday 03:35 11.21.2006 Hong Zenisek Thank you so much for your information! It is very helpful! I just bought a 1972 YAMAHA Concole piano. It had only one owner before me, so it looks great. I am thinking to have my son, who is the one plays it, to learn tuning the piano himself. He is 13, but very intelligent and a meticulous person. I thought it will save some money and he has the personality to do the work. (He spent two weeks and made a soccer ball in its precise shape and size out of an old leather jacket.) Before I order any tuning kit, I thought I'd learn something about it myself. And I am so glad to come across your website! However, after reading your site, I am not so sure my son is ready to learn-- after all, it is a complex process, and my piano is brand new (to me). I am going to wait a while. thank you again!  EntryNo: 27  Date: Thursday 09:21 11.09.2006 paulilaswi Thanks for the great help. FYI for all you do it yourselfers: The piano tuning hammer is just an automotive socket wrench with a "star" tip. you can get it at any DIY or auto store. I have a 1923 Laffargue upright, and it takes a standard 1/4" 12 point star tip wrench. This cost me 3.50 at Lowes, and I had the wrench. - what a savings over the $30 they want at most piano supply stores. Comment:If that works for you, great! But be very careful that your wrench socket is a perfect fit. You do not want to damage the pin. (An adjustable crescent wrench is a very poor choice for this reason). Two other advantages of the official tuning lever are a wooden handle that is less likely to mar things should it slip (I'd wrap the socket wrench handle in a bit of leather or other material), and a longer handle than a standard socket wrench for better leverage and reach within the piano.  EntryNo: 26  Date: Saturday 15:45 11.04.2006 Ergo Any special tips on tuning a three string 1936 model Cable-Nelson upright. It was given to me in great condition. Three of the keys stick and it is out of tune. Comment:The tuning can be done with the method given at this website. Repairs are beyond the scope here. I recommend further reading with the websites and books referenced at this website. Good luck!  EntryNo: 25  Date: Monday 14:22 10.30.2006 Marty I have just discovered this website and want to say thank you for the wonderful information found here. I have an upright J&C Fischer piano that was born in 1913 that I acquired 4 years ago. The piano is in great shape for its age, and although it could use some restoration,(when I found her she was a bit musty and moldy), I fell in love with its beauitful victorian woodwork the moment I saw it. I have her looking pretty good now, she is still all original, just shined her up a bit, and now with some time I am going to attempt to tune her, she actually has a few keys that sound in tune. Very useful information here. Thanks again!  EntryNo: 24  Date: Friday 13:14 10.27.2006 Ron Haney Just found your site and read the good info. Getting ready to give it a try, on my wife's Baldwin. Hope it works, or I'll be in the yellow pages looking for a pro. Looking forward to the challenge...thanks for the tips. I'll let you know how it turned out...  EntryNo: 23  Date: Monday 11:50 10.23.2006 Richard Doust thanks for this information, nicely presented in a clear but informal way it might just get me started !  EntryNo: 22  Date: Monday 15:22 10.16.2006 Damo Thank you for putting this on the web so amateurs like myself can take the opportunity to tune that old ear-strainer.  EntryNo: 21  Date: Wednesday 16:42 07.19.2006 Scott Fisher Great tutorial! More people should see this! I wish I had years ago...  EntryNo: 20  Date: Tuesday 06:31 07.11.2006 Fabio Mayo Belligotti Thanks for the amazingly simple tutorial. I have an old family piano laying around and have been wanting forever to tune it and start a few lessons with my father. This is trully generous and a precious gift. Thanks!  EntryNo: 19  Date: Tuesday 04:12 07.11.2006 paulo vicent thanx, for this information, you can't imagine the help you gave me..  EntryNo: 18  Date: Thursday 03:29 06.22.2006 Stephanie I recently acquired an old Baldwin spinet piano that had been left in an abandoned house where birds and mice made it their home. The soundboard has a small mouse hole in the bottom left corner and a few of the keys stick but other than that it cleaned up beautifully! Is the piano ruined because of the hole in the soundboard? Comment:A small hole should not be a problem; there is plenty of soundboard left! (Thanks to Ian in post #60 for his comments on this question.)  EntryNo: 17  Date: Thursday 11:21 06.08.2006 SJ Thanks very much for the great info and boost to my confidence. I recently had my old spinet tuned for $150 and after only a few months, it no longer is in tune. I started to tinker with it myself and tried various sockets, vice grips and other assorted tools (including reversing a ¼ inch socket), and was only marginally successful. However, I'm going to invest in a kit and maintain the tuning myself. Again, thanks for writing your article, which was both very informative and inspiring.  EntryNo: 16  Date: Monday 01:52 06.05.2006 derek thanks for a start on tuning an oldie Comment:You're welcome. Good luck!  EntryNo: 15  Date: Saturday 08:24 06.03.2006 Robert I wanted to let you know of alternative to expensive tuniing hammers that I've used to tune several pianos very well......Get a 1/4 inch socket ideally one inch long that is straight cylinder shape for full length....I picked up a couple of different ones from pawn shop tool bin for about $1.00....Then I got 1/4 inch L shaped allen wrench with long side about 5 inches to use as handle....Insert shorter side of allen wrench into socket and use the square side that small ratchet normally would go on to turn the piano pins....That square end in socket is just the right size in a lot of cases....I know that some pianos must have different size pins...Maybe I've just been lucky......But one of best things about it was cost..About $2.00 total!....At thrift store I found a leather eyglass case that snaps or zips to use as tool pouch for another 25 cents....and there you go. Comment:Now that's DIY piano tuning! Thanks for the tip. I tried in on my piano. The 1/4 inch socket works, but it's a loose fit. That means you'll be putting extra pressure on the corners of the pin, which may damage them. A genuine tuning wrench will give you a tighter fit and be gentler on the pins. Your suggestion will work in an emergency, though.  EntryNo: 14  Date: Thursday 05:17 05.11.2006 Bon Thank you for your information. I don't know if I'll have the guts to tune this old Wm Knabe that I just inherited - the tuning seems to be "good enough" for me - but can you tell me if there is anything I can do about the sticking hammers? Thank you, Bon Comment:I have no personal experience with repairs such as sticking hammers, but there are some resources on our links page, http://piano.detwiler.us/low endpianolinks.html that may be of use.  EntryNo: 13  Date: Saturday 20:57 04.29.2006 James Could someone let me know which part of the strings do I insert the muting Wedges? I have a baby grand and am going to try to tune my piano on my own. It is just too expensive to have a professional tuner tune my piano. Also, the my korg chromatic tuner could not pick out the lower octave keys. It shows different keys everytime I strike the keys, sometimes not showing anything at all. What am I doing wrong? I have verified with another tuner and they are both working fine. Thanks Comment:You can get some idea where to put the wedges by looking at the picture. Put them anywhere in the body of the piano, where the length of the strings is exposed and you can place your wedge between the string and the soundboard. As for the lower octaves, that is indeed a limitation of the little tuner, and I noted that in the article. Two solutions: 1) When the tuner fails, you'll need to tune "the old fashioned way" comparing the low note to a note in a tuned octave. 2) Purchase an external mic (called a "pick-up") for your tuner that clips to the strings. Both of these are described in more detail in my main article. Thanks for reading, and good luck! « previous page next page »