Tuning

Conder's Piano Service provides the finest quality tuning in this area.

Rick Conder was registered as a Craftsman in 1978. He is a "second generation" technician, and has been

working exclusively as a Piano Tuner - Technician for over 30 years.

With several decades of experience, we can handle any tuning needs you may have. Our contracts are as large as Charlotte/Mecklenburg County Schools with over 300 pianos, and as small as a single piano. It does not matter if you contract tuning or if you are just wanting to have your piano in your home tuned. CPS guarantees the same prompt, courteous and professional service.

Rates are as follows:

(In Mecklenburg County) Regular Tuning: $90.00 Raise Pitch (If Necessary): $50.00 Each

All Keys Must Work Properly In Order For A Piano To Be Tuned

Additional Charge for service outside of Mecklenburg County

Regular Periodic Tuning

Pianos require tuning on a regular basis. Many factors cause pianos to get "out of tune." Piano strings span the length of the piano. They are supported on a metal plate (usually cast iron) hitched on pins at one end and coiled around "tuning pins" at the other end. The plate is supported by braces usually made of wood. The accumulated pressure of the strings (230 strings or so depending on the piano) is as much as 40,000 pounds. Since wood and cast iron are both porous materials, they are affected by changes in the air that flows through them. Changes in temperature and humidity cause them to expand and contract slightly. When these changes occur, the plate and braces give to the pressure of the strings causing "string tension" to decrease. Also each string can stretch. Though strings are made of steel, over time they can stretch enough to lose their tension. "Tuning pins" are tightly embedded in a piece of layered wood called a "pin block". "Tuning pins" can slip slightly to reduce tension on the strings. All of these factors working together over time can result in a significant drop in the overall "pitch" of the piano within a few years, even if it is not played. To maintain standard pitch (A440), a piano should be tuned at least every two years and more often if the piano is subjected to extreme conditions.

Tuning After a Move

When a piano is moved, the move itself will not "knock" a piano "out of tune", unless, of course, it is jolted or dropped. However, after a move, a piano will go through some changes that may cause the tuning to vary. These changes will occur over a 2 to 4 week period after the move. If possible, it is a good idea to wait until these changes have taken place and are finished before you have your piano tuned. This "acclamation" process occurs because of atmospheric variations. It can happen even if you only move a piano across a room.

Voicing Hammers Can Determine A Piano's Tone

Besides tuning, there are a few other things that can be done to a piano to improve its "tone". When a key is depressed, a hammer strikes the strings. It hits the string in the exact same place, every time. Over many years of use, the hammers become compressed and hard. This can give a piano a "brassy", "tinny", or "twangy" tone. This can be rectified by what is called "resurfacing" and "voicing" the hammers, or replacing them completely. "Resurfacing" is taking layers of felt off the striking point by using sandpaper until you reach softer, fresh felt. This can only be done once or twice. After that, you must replace the hammer. "Voicing" is done by sticking needles into the felt of the hammer to soften the tone of one specific note. You do this to achieve a consistency of tone from one note to another, and to soften the overall tone.

What Is Tuning?

Tuning is accomplished by twisting the "tuning pins" ever so slightly until the string tension is correct to produce the desired "tone". If a piano has not been tuned in several years, it will require having the "pitch raised" in order to be tuned correctly. "Standard pitch" is "A440". This means that the "A" above "middle C" produces sound waves at the rate of 440 per second. Everything else is tuned to that note. After not being tuned for a few years, it takes drastic changes in the strings to return them to the appropriate tension. Because the strings are so close together, a drastic change in tension affects the strings next to the one you are tuning. After the drastic changes are made to all the strings, you must "re-tune" the piano, making only subtle changes to the tension of the strings. Sometimes if it has been 15 or more years, the "pitch" may be so low that it may take 3 tunings to reach "A440". After a piano has not been tuned for many years, when the pitch is raised, and it is tuned; it will not hold that tuning for very long. The piano literally goes into shock. Because the structure is not used to having that much pressure on it, it will settle. After a few weeks you may want to have your piano tuned again. That tuning should "hold" as much as a year or two.

A piano’s tone contains a slight reverb effect. This is due to variations in string length and other factors. These variations must be compensated for when you tune the piano. This is called a piano’s "temperament". Electronic keyboards have attempted to duplicate this effect for many years. Although, to this point they have not. Some very expensive keyboards can sound close, however, no keyboard can exactly match the distinctive tone of an acoustic piano. The age of electronics has also brought us electronic tuners or Strobe Tuners. For guitars, violins, cellos, etc., these work fine. Even pianos can be "rough tuned" (raising the pitch). However, because electronic tuners cannot compensate for string length variations to fine tune a piano, an accurate temperament must be achieved the same way as it has for over 100 years: by an experienced, qualified piano tuner, tuning "by ear".

When you tune a piano "by ear", the first thing that you do is called " setting a temperament". This means exactly what it says. You take a center octave and adjust it. Starting with one note, you tune "4ths" (expanding slightly) and "5ths"(contracting slightly) moving back and forth until every note in the "octave" has been tuned. The expansions and contractions are necessary to compensate for the imperfection of the piano. The amount of variations between "4ths" and "5ths" are determined by trial and error until all cords harmonize properly. Whatever these variations end up being is considered the "temperament" of the piano. After accomplishing this, you adjust each string from that "octave" to both the treble and bass ends of the "string scale". You tune octaves to each other (F sharp to F sharp, G to G, etc.). Most notes have 3 strings. Each must be tuned together. This is called a "unison". "Unisons" and "octaves" are tuned by adjusting string tension until all "overtones" are eliminated.

The simple mechanics of tuning can be learned in a day. However, it can take many years to develop the concentration and "the ear" to be accurate. Also you must develop "hand and ear" coordination. "Hand and eye" coordination is something you use all day, everyday, in everything you do. However, "hand and ear" coordination is something you never use. In the 1930's, Don Conder began learning how to tune pianos at the Governor Morehead School for the Blind in Raleigh, North Carolina. Piano tuning is a profession in which blind people actually have a head start because they have already started developing "hand and ear" coordination out of necessity. They used to teach piano tuning in many schools for the blind. You may have noticed that many older piano tuners are blind. However, as more and more blind children are being mainstreamed into regular schools; not as many are learning to tune pianos. Piano tuning is becoming a lost art.