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Piano tuning is mechanically simple but difficult to master
Clear explanations of piano tuning for the beginner are hard to find. When I wanted to learn how to tune my piano, most sources insisted that I should not try, or hid the basics in a mountain of detail, or insisted I buy a book. So I taught myself instead. After research and trying it, I developed the simplified method on this site which uses three tools: mutes, electronic tuner and a tuning wrench.
Reality Check: Why tuners tell you not to try piano tuning
While you can learn the basic mechanics of tuning piano strings quickly, good results involves more than turning pins. Good piano tuning technique is learned over time. Professional piano tuners develop subtle skills through years of practice. A poorly handled tuning can damage a piano.
This page does not replace the professional piano tuner. The simplified approach here is for the curious piano owner, or those who want to touch up between professional tunings, or perhaps performers who need an emergency adjustment. I have even heard from people who had a piano so neglected that a professional piano tuner refused to tune it. This method might at least make it playable once more. But if you have something precious, a pro will do a better job. Even if you are serious about tuning and intend to learn more, the basic approach given here will be a good start, and make more in depth sources manke more sense.
The piano is a large and complex instrument. It can be quite a task to get all the keys in tune, and this gets worse the longer the piano has not been tuned. A piano that has been left untuned for a long time may not hold tune with a standard tuning and may need a "pitch-raise" (an extended tuning regimen requiring several passes tuning the entire piano until everything will finally stay in tune.) Beyond that, voicing and regulating the action may be required to restore the best tone. Some pianos will require repairs, like misaligned hammers or loose pins, which are beyond the scope of this page (though we do have some resources we can recommend.)
Know the risks. Carelessness or inexperience can break strings, loosen or bend pins or cause other damage. Too many loose pins, for example, may render the piano practically un-tunable and too expensive to repair.
Read this entire tutorial! I occasionally receive remarks from professional tuners critical of this web site. Those remarks are welcome; I use them to improve the website, though sometimes it is clear that they have dismissed the site without reading it completely. I also receive positive comments from professionals who understand my goals. (Check our Comments section). Please read the entire website carefully to be certain you understand the details, risks and limitations of this simplified procedure.
This author is not a professional piano tuner; I was just willing to try piano tuning myself. I have an older student-quality piano, not a priceless Steinway. I don't think I'd risk anything expensive or precious. Still, I did it myself, and I am happy with the results. I think other piano owners can do the same. With disclaimers out of the way, let's begin.
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Tuning Tools
You will need some special piano tuning tools.
I used the following piano tuning tools, purchased from piano tool suppliers on the internet. I do not recommend homemade workarounds like socket wrenches or foam chunks. Get the right tools for the job. You will have better results, less frustration, and be less likely to damage the piano. A basic set of good quality tools will cost less than a single professional tuning.Tuning Mutes
These rubber wedges are only a dollar or two each. Assorted sizes come in handy. I use the ones with a wire handle most often. You'll need at least two rubber wedge mutes to get started. Several other kinds of mutes are available for muting whole ranges of strings and muting just the middle of three strings. You may find these useful as you gain skill. (A reader offers this tip about wedges for those tempted to save money here: "You cannot mute the strings with your fingers, even if you have three hands. The heat from your fingertips will make the string expand, it will sound flat, so you'll tighten it, and it'll go sharp as soon as it cools!")
Also refered to as a tuning hammer or wrench. The tuning lever is specially designed for piano pins. This is the most expensive and the most important tool you'll need. It has a special "star" socket shape that is designed to fit piano pins at multiple angles for the best control. The standard pin size in America requires a #2 tuning lever socket.
There many levers to choose from at PianoSupplies.com. In order to feel the subtle motions and maintain absolute control, you need a solid tool with no wiggle in the handle and a secure fit to the pin. Inferior tools may fit the pin poorly, slip, bind, mar the pin or break it outright. In piano tools, the more expensive, the higher the quality. $20 bargain hammers are, in a word, useless. Medium-quality models like that pictured have interchangeable head for even interchangeable tips in case you run into an odd pin size or encounter a cabinet configuration where a shorter or longer head is better. NOTE: If you purchase a lever with interchangeable tips, be certain to purchase a tip wrench as well to properly tighten the tip. If you do not use a tip wrench, the tip is likely to unscrew while attempting to turn a pin. The wrench pictured in this tutorial has an interchangeable head with a fixed tip. The highest quality professional levers have an extendable neck for the most flexible positioning, for example this Schaff rosewood-handled model.
Do not even think about a crescent or socket wrench. I tried it; it was a disaster. It slipped off the pin, tended to damage the squared corners of the pins, had too much wiggle for a good feel and was too short to control the turn. Do not risk damaging, bending or loosening pins. Buy a proper tuning lever!
Electronic Chromatic Tuner
I use a Korg CA-40 Large Display Auto Chromatic Tuner >. This little fellow is KEY (no pun intended) to making this process as painless as possible. I tried using a tuning fork at first, but it was too difficult. The electronic tuner makes it much easier and faster. It is around $25 shipped from Amazon.com. It "hears" the tone you are close too, and automatically adjusts the display to match without having to press more buttons. It will also play all the tones in the middle octave. >
There are many brands and styles of chromatic tuners. The very best electronic piano tuners, referred to as "Electronic Tuning Devices" or ETDs by pros, are like the Peterson AutoStrobe 490ST Piano Stretch Tuner These are $500 to $1800 or more. Software piano tuning programs for Windows or Mac provide everything from basic guitar tuners through full professional piano ETDs; prices range from freeware to $1900 for the gold standard Reyburn CyberTuner. If you have an iPod touch or iPhone, there are several tuning apps. Some free, but some of the paid ones are very sophisticated versions of the big packages and cost hundreds of dollars. Personally, I prefer a simple dedicated tuning device to fussing with a software program, at least at my level. For the do-it-yourself method in this tutorial, any chromatic tuner in the Korg line will work. NOTE: Most guitar-only tuners will not work because they recognize fewer notes than a full chromatic tuner.
The best value all-around handheld tuner short of a professional piano tuning device is the Korg OT-120 Wide 8 Octave Chromatic Orchestral Tuner. It's primary advantage for piano tuning is that it has a physical needle, rather than an LCD digital emulated needle. An actual needle is more responsive, less "jumpy." (It also "hears" a wider range of octaves, but that's not as important with the way we'll be tuning.) It has many other features that make it an excellent tuner for about any instrument.
A useful add-on for Korg tuners is the Korg CM-100L Clip On Contact Microphone For Tuners. This is a microphone on a wired clip with which you can get very close to the string you are tuning. Electronic tuners can be a bit fussy about "hearing" the note you are working on, and can pick up other sounds in the room. The closer you can get the unit to the string thing better, and the tuning clip makes this a lot easier. Clip it onto the metal framework near the octave you'll be tuning (not to the strings.) I got by without it at first, but it is worth the few extra dollars. The single model will work on any Korg chromatic tuner.
Additional tools
You may need a screwdriver to remove some of the cabinetry for the best access. You will also want a light source; you must see clearly what pin goes to what string.
Where to Buy Piano Tuning Tools
I recommend PianoSupplies.com for most of the piano tuning equipment described in this tutorial. They are professionals who can assist you with questions about the proper tools for your particular piano. They sell kits as well as the individual items. I got the hammer and wedges in an "apprentice piano tuning kit." You could skip the "kit" and just buy the mutes and the hammer separately. I didn't end up using some of the items in the kit, especially the tuning forks.
Korg tuners are available inexpensively from
Amazon.com
. Vendors on Amazon also sell piano tuning tools; look for items from NewOctave. Remember to shop for quality over price.
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Tuning Procedure
Before you begin, clear the area of other humans. Turn off all other sources of sound, especially things that "hum." Lock the doors. Prop the piano wide open. You may need to remove some of the cabinet members; they are designed to be easily removed with no more than a screwdriver. Position your light source.
Tuning Step 1: Tune a single string from a single note in the middle octave.
(Middle C on up to C'). Each piano key strikes one to three strings. Pick one string to tune at a time; if there are three strings, start with the middle. Carefully find the pin that turns the string you want to tune. Stick the rubber wedges in to stop the vibration of the other one or two strings in the set. While repeatedly striking the piano key FIRMLY, turn the pin with the tuning lever VERY SLIGHTLY until the electronic tuner shows that it's in tune. The Korg CA-40 automatically detects the note you are trying to reach. If you are really off, it may show the wrong note, so make sure you know what you are looking for. Alternatively, the CA-40 can also play the tone for you to match by ear. More about matching by ear in Step 2.
Tips about this process:
- Proceed slowly. Stretching a string too quickly can break it, especially an old string. If the string is really far out, you may want to tune it in several steps, allowing it to rest a few minutes between turns. (Thanks to a reader for pointing this out.)
- Righty Tighty, Lefty Loosey! Turning the pin right/clockwise will tighten the pin and raise the pitch. Turning it left/counter-clockwise will loosen the pin and lower the pitch.
- Do not overwork the pin. Twist it gently, little by little, without bending it. Don't wiggle it side to side in any way. Move the pin as little as you can (you'll get better with practice.) Too much twisting and wiggling can loosen it; a loose pin will keep slipping out of tune. Rough technique may permanently loosen pins. Loose tuning pins will need to be replaced by a professional.
- About "Setting the Pin." Setting the pin means to move it in such a way that it does not easily slip back out of tune. To set the pin your final tuning movements should be:
- a slight tightening/clockwise move to stretch the string just a hair above pitch
- followed by an even slighter loosening/counterclockwise to move into pitch.
- Loosen the tension a little first before tightening. Better to relax the string than to overtighten needlessly, especially if you happen to be on the wrong string! Overtightening breaks strings, and is a common error for inexperienced tuners.
- Striking the key firmly is important. The vibrations this creates equalized the tension along the string. A string firmly struck while tuning will stay in tune lnger. If you tune by playing softly, the string may relax later when someone does play it hard, and it will slip out of tune. If you like, you can begin your tuning of each key with gentler hits; striking it hard all the time is exhausting and irritating to the ear. When you think you have it, hit it hard a few times as you finish the final touches.
- As you tune with an electronic tuner, particular an inexpensive one with its jumpy LCD needle, you will find it nearly impossible to hit dead on the frequency each time. I tend to stay just a shade sharp when in doubt, as my piano generally goes out of tune to the flat, not the sharp. Tuning a little sharp also gives a brighter sound, but do not overdo it.
- A good piano tuner may tune the middle register a little sharp on purpose, because the process of tuning the high and low registers can flat the middle sometimes. (Fast explanation: All those strings put a lot of tension on the sound board. As you work your way to the ends of the keyboard, the resulting tension changes can subtly alter the shape of the sound board, reducing the tension on the middle octaves, causing the middle octaves to flat.) If you tune the middle a little sharp, by the time you finish the upper and lower, the middle will, in theory, be in tune. I wouldn't worry about this as a beginner. This is an advanced technique that the experience of the professional can bring, and you can work toward as your skills improve. (When you really know what you are doing, then you will learn how to stretch the octaves. See the notes in Step 3.)
Tuning Step 2: Match the remaining strings in the note to the one first tuned.
After the first string is tuned, it's time to match the other string or two in the set to the first; this is called "tuning the unisions." Move the wedges so that the first, tuned string and a second string are free, but the third, if present, is still dampened by a wedge. Ignore the tuner; tune the unisons by ear. Put your wrench on the second string's pin. While repeatedly striking the key hard, turn the second pin until you can hear no more "beats"--that is, it sounds like one note, not two in disharmony. Repeat for the third string if necessary, with all wedges removed.
Alternatively, you could tune all the strings in a key's set with the electronic tuner, but that's not as easy as you might think. Getting that little indicator to line up just right for every string becomes tedious fast. Using your ear to tune the strings to each other is faster and will sound better.
Repeat steps 1 and 2 for each key in the middle octave. When you have completed this first octave, you have "set the temperament." In Step 3, you will use this first octave as your reference for the rest of the piano.
Tuning Step 3: Use the first octave to tune the others by ear.
Do not use the electronic tuner. Tune the octaves above and below the middle by ear, matching them to the middle octave, e.g, A to A', B to B', etc. Tune one string in the note at a time (muting the others)--this time comparing it to the corresponding note in the middle octave rather than the electronic tuner. Then tune the other string(s) within the note to the first as described above. Repeat for all octaves, always using the nearest tuned octave to tune the next octave above or below. There you are--a tuned piano!
Why not use the Korg tuner to tune everything?
- Nervous needle: Just as above, getting that indicator on the electronic tuner to settle down can be nerve-wracking. You will find that watching the tuner all the time will just slow you down. "Hearing it" will be more efficient and less frustrating once you get the hang of it.
- Korg detection limits: The simple electronic tuner recommended here works best on the middle octave. It may work on a few keys above and below the middle octave, but it has trouble "hearing" once you get much further. A better tuner or maybe a remote contact mic might help. The Korg CM-100 Tuner Clip works with any tuner with an audio input jack, and is actually handy for tuning in general to help you get as close to the targeted strings as possible and thus less affected by ambient noise or the changes in pitch as the sound bounces around the piano or the room.
- Piano peculiarities: In reality, a piano is 99% tuned to itself. The different lengths and types of strings in a single piano tend to alter their resonant characteristics from the ideal. The mathematically correct pitch actually sounds out of tune for many keys, especially in the extreme high and low octaves, and moreso on smaller pianos with shorter strings. If you tune the entire piano using a simple electronic tuner like the Korg, the top registers will sound flat, and the bottom registers sharp. Putting the electronic tuner aside to tune unisons by ear will get you closer to proper adjustment automatically. This also more closely approaches what a professional piano tuner who tunes by ear does. See "Stretching Octaves" below. If you desire an electronic tuner to tune every octave, then you will need a professional piano tuner's electronic tuner or tuning software.
Finer Points of Tuning
- A 440: Because of the peculiar harmonicities of piano strings, the ONLY note on a piano that is precisely tuned to an outside standard is "A" in the middle octave, that being 440 Hz. A professional tuner who tunes only by ear may just tune the "A" with a tuning fork and tune the rest by ear.
- Stretching Octaves: To tune a piano exactly right, one must "stretch octaves," which is to intentionally tune the upper registers progressively sharp and the lower registers progressively flat. Electronic equipment and software can help a professional piano tuner calculate precise frequencies, but these are expensive. In my method, we are tuning the entire middle octave to an outside standard, which is not the best, but the middle octave is stretched the least of all the octaves. Furthermore, by tuning the remaining octaves by ear, we tend naturally to stretch the octaves because it "sounds right." This mimics the technique of a tuner who tunes by ear. Stretching is required because the physical differences among strings (thickness, length, structure) make them respond differently from the ideal; stretching in effect customizes the sound to the peculiarites of each piano.
- Equal Temperament: The most popular modern model for the frequency for each note is called "equal temperament." Equal temperament is designed to give the overall best sound no matter in what key a song is played. Ideally, the "perfect" piano will be tuned with mathematically calculated frequencies that have precise intervals between notes determined by the equal temperament model (though in practice the octaves must be stretched, see above.) There are actually multiple temperaments, or piano tuning schemes, really, that have been developed through the years. Some were experimental; others deliberately favored certain musical intervals. Interestingly, composers of the classical period composed for pianos that were not tuned to equal temperament but to one of several other temperaments popular in their time. Today, equal temperament is by far the most common, but you could say there is no one single right way to tune a piano!
Common Questions
How long will this take? That's extremely variable. Make of the piano, how badly out of tune it is, how good your ear is, etc. The first time you do it, it may take an hour to get through that first octave. Once you get the hang of it, I estimate that a careful tuning takes about 20 minutes an octave. As for a not-so-careful tune up, I have found that now I know my way around my particular piano, I can whip out the old hammer for a touch-up quite quickly--just a minute or two a note.
How do you keep a piano from getting out of tune? The primary strategy is to keep the environmental conditions as consistent as possible. Minimize changes in temperature and humidity; avoid placement near sunlight, windows, heating ducts, etc. After that, the best way to keep your piano in tune is to (surprise!) tune it. Once the piano is in tune, it is easier to keep it in tune with touch-ups and regularly-scheduled tunings. Don't wait until you can't stand the sound anymore. The more strings left untuned, the more the tension changes on the soundboard, causing a cascade effect where more and more strings to go out of tune.
What is missing in this piano tuning technique that a professional tuner would do? The main part of the piano tuning procedure this method short-cuts is tuning note-to-note within an octave, that is, using A to tune C, for example. This requires counting "beats," that is the loud points in the vibrations that two dissonant strings make. (Remember that when tuning the two strings of a single note, for example, you match them so the beats disappear entirely.) In addition, a professional will know how to stretch the octaves for the best sound. A professional will also bring experience, and will be less likely cause damage such as loosening pins or breaking strings. They may also make repairs. And, of course, they will be faster and better.
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What To Do Next
More Tuning Tools
A variety of mutes is probably the next thing to buy after the hammer, tuner, and a few wedge mutes. The temperament strip is a long strip of felt with which you can mute many strings at once by weaving it among the strings. Push it between the strings in several places with a screwdriver. It keeps other strings from sympathetically vibrating; the vibrations can make it difficult for your ear to isolate strings you are trying to tune. Professional piano tuners consider it essential; it often comes in basic kits. The long mute pictured in the kit is a "treble mute," which is used to mute the middle string of a triad. If you would like to try repairs, you'll need additional tools, such as this basic regulation tool kit. PianoSupplies.com also sells piano repair parts and accessories. They have great forums, too!
Piano Tuning Books & Links
This page presents an effective but very simplified approach to piano tuning. There is much more to learn. As I say in my introduction, it's hard to find good explanations for the beginner; if you understand what I have presented first, you'll find these other sources easier to follow. Here are several books that are among the most highly regarded resources in the field.
Piano Servicing, Tuning, and Rebuilding, Second Edition : for the Professional, the Student, and the Hobbyist by Arthur A. Reblitz. The "bible" of introductory tuning texts. "All the information essential to the art of restoring and maintaining a piano; from minor repairs and cleaning to major tuning and complete restoration techniques." It has excellent reviews. Browse inside the book and read the reviews at Amazon.
Piano Tuning: A Simple and Accurate Method for Amateurs by J. Cree Fischer. Here's a classic piano tuning text, recommended to me by a reader of this page. Written in 1907, so some of the information is outmoded (particularly the square piano and math sections), but otherwise piano tuning has not changed. His technique of aural tuning involves tuning the fifths as a way to avoid counting beats. Browse inside the book and read the reviews at Amazon. It's out of copyright, and as such is also available free online if you want to print it yourself.
The Piano Book: Buying & Owning a New or Used Piano by Larry Fine. Not really a tuning book, but rather an excellent reference for the instrument in general. If you care enough about your piano to tune it, you really should learn as much as you can about owning it first.
There are plenty of other choices. Here's a list of more Piano Tuning books.
Piano Tuning Links
For more questions and answers about piano tuning, see our own Piano Tuning FAQ.
Chuan C. Chang's book.
Chapter 1 teaches a method for learning to play the piano, but Chapter 2 is about tuning.
McCullough
Tuning Tutorial
More details on tuning by ear.
David Anderson's web site
Dave is a professional piano tuner who has posted some good background info on tuning.
Precison Strobe's Tuning Page
All the technical details behind piano tuning. Not for the faint of heart!
More Select Piano Links
More links to content-rich websites with piano information for the do-it-yourself piano owner and player, gathered and reviewed by me.
Tuning Your Piano Pictorial
An alternative version of this site, with more pictures of the process.
The Chromatic Tuner Guide
While an electronic tuner seems like a straightforward device, you'd be amazed at what they can do. A comprehensive guide to electronic tuners.
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This low-bandwidth, no-picture text version is provided as a courtesy to our Wikipedia visitors.
Click here for the illustrated version of How to Tune Your Piano Yourself