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Kallie Swanepoel Piano Tuners

Kallie Swanepoel Piano Tuners
Piano Tuning

The Art Of Piano Tuning
Piano Tuning Preparations
Piano Tuning Method
Tuning A Piano To Concert Pitch
Tuning Pianos In Unison
Equal Temperament
Frequent Piano Tuning
Piano Tuning Stability
Only Make Use Of A Qualified Professional To Tune Your Piano
Do You Need A Piano Tuning?

Piano Tuning Preparations

In order to have the work done to the utmost convenience for both parties, please take the following in consideration when booking an appointment for piano tuning

When consulting with us for a quotation for piano tuning tell us if there are any mechanical defects on the piano making playing impossible. This will enable us to advise you on the procedures for piano regulation or piano repairs.
When consulting with us for a quotation for piano tuning please provide details of how long ago the piano had been tuned or serviced. This might help to determine if a pitch raise will be necessary or not.
When consulting with us for a quotation for piano tuning inform us if you'd want the piano to be tuned to the international standard concert pitch.
When consulting with us for a quotation for piano tuning tell us the make or model of your piano if you have the information available. It's always nice to know what we will be working on.
Remove all obstacles like a coffee table, sofa, and other furniture blocking the work space to allow us to sit and work in front of the piano.
Remove all objects like books, vases, and ornaments from the top of the piano to save some time, for we have to open it from the top.
Please create a quiet environment during the piano tuning. We will not compete with a lawn mower, vacume cleaner or loud music. A noisy environment will make an accurate piano tuning impossible. We need to be able to hear what we are doing, for piano tuning is an aural skill.

Piano Tuning Method

There are two basic methods used by piano tuners for piano tuning

Aural Piano Tuning
Electronic Piano Tuning

Aural tuning is the method piano tuners have traditionally used and still use today to tune pianos by ear only. After a reference note or a calibrated given frequency, usually produced by a tuning fork, is established, the tuner adjust the pitch of all the other notes based on the reference note relying only on their hearing. This is also the method we prefer and use in our practise, for we can hear.

Electronic Piano Tuning

An electronic tuning device assists a piano tuner in tuning a piano without relying only on hearing. It will produce a range of pitches to establish the ideal tuning of a given piano. A piano tuner can then match the piano to the device. It is inevitable to use some aural techniques as well to refine the tuning. It will never replace the ear, but is an aid to it. We will only apply it to speed up the process of pitch raising or pitch lowering.

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Pitch Raising
Pitch Lowering

Tuning a piano to concert pitch

Standard or concert pitch is A-440 Hz or C-523 Hz, which is the international pitch standard. There are a few others as well, but they are not so regularly used or requested.

Tuning Pianos In Unison

Usually two or more pianos are tuned in unison for a performance where pianists play together, for example when a piano duet is performed. These pianos will then be tuned to exactly the same pitch and also with the beat ratios of all intervals matching. It is advisable that similar make and models are used in such a performance.

Equal Temperament

The equal tempered scale is the common general musical scale used at present for the tuning of pianos and other instruments of relatively fixed scale. It divides the octave into 12 equal semitones. Equal temperament can be described as a tuning system in which every pair of adjacent notes has an identical frequency ratio. An interval, usually the octave, is divided into a series of equal frequency ratios. Musical intervals are stated in cents, where one equal tempered semitone is defined as100¢. This provides a useful way to compare intervals in different temperaments and to decide whether those differences are musically significant.

For modern Western music, the most common tuning system used by piano tuners is the twelve-tone equal temperament, abbreviated as 12-TET, where the octave is divided into 12 logarithmically equal parts or semitones. It is usually tuned relative to a standard pitch of 440 Hz. When the term "Equal Temperament" is used without qualification, it is usually understood as 12-TET. There are also other existing equal temperaments for some eastern music written in 19-TET and 31-TET, while 24-TET is being used for Arabian music.

The major advantage of the equal tempered scale is that it is the same in any key, so that compositions may be freely transposed up or down without changing the musical intervals. It has made equal temperament the standard temperament in western music for the past 200 years. The piano keyboard is the standard example of the equal tempered scale, and the frets on a modern guitar are also placed to fix the instrument into the equal tempered scale.

Frequent Piano Tuning

A new piano should be tuned four times in its first year and twice a year, once in summer and once in winter, thereafter. Older pianos can be tuned annually, and pianos used for performances and recording, much more frequently according to musical requirements. How frequently you will tune your piano are not only dependent on how often it is played, but also on climatic and seasonal changes. Pianos are designed to sound their best at concert pitch. If you have not been tuning the piano for years, it might require a pitch raise. Try to control temperature and humidity levels in the room where the piano is located to avoid large pitch changes.

Piano Tuning Stability

Piano tuning stability can be measured by the period a piano can stay sounding in tune after it is tuned. In other words, the longer a piano sounds in tune, the better the tuning stability will be.

Factors Affecting Piano Tuning Stability
How To Keep A Piano In Tune

Changes In Humidity

Changes in humidity are the main cause of changes in piano tuning. When all the wooden parts like the soundboard, pin block and bridge are in a moist environment, the wood cells will absorb the moisture and swell up, which causes expansion and this pulls the strings tighter, which forces the piano to go sharp. On the other hand, if the piano is moved to a drier environment, the result is shrinking of the wood. The strings will lose their tension, and go flat, and wood might also crack. Opening of splits may occur and buzzes may be heard when the piano is played. It may also lead to enlargement of the wholes for the tuning pins in the tuning block, also called a wrest plank, which will cause loose tuning pins making piano tuning unstable, or even impossible. Each and every seasonal change, wet or dry, alters a piano's tuning.

Changes In Temperature

The effect of changes in temperature is quite related to humidity. When the steel strings heat up, they slack, lose tension and go flat. When the steel strings get cold, they tighten, gain tension and the piano goes sharp. This happens every winter and summer, day and night as temperature changes, making piano tuning unstable.

Piano Moving

Piano moving can also get a piano out of tune. The delicate position of the tuning pins in the pin block and the strings over the bridge pins is quite sensitive. Any time a piano is tilted or handled, there can be a shift in these positions.

Read more on
Piano Moving
Piano Transportation

Excessively Hard Playing

Excessively hard playing may cause a piano to go out of tune when the force of the hammer is strong enough to stretch the speaking length of the string enough to pull it over the friction points.

Aged Or Worn Materials

Materials can become aged or worn. Those related to tuning stability are generally wood, while some metal parts can give as well. The pin block can become split, or the tuning pins can become loose in their holes from repeated tunings or wood shrinkage. The bridges can split, typically along the line of the bridge pins. As the strings are tightened during tuning, the pins then move and do not keep the piano wire in place. Sometimes V-bars, agraffes, and hitch pins can bend or move as well.

Abuse Of The Piano Or Piano Tuning

Abuse of the piano or piano tuning can also be a cause of a piano's going out of tune. Avoid the abuse of a piano and there will be more stable piano tunings. If the piano tuner knows what he/she is doing, more stable tunings might be the result.

How To Keep A Piano In Tune

Location
Temperature and humidity control
Frequent Tuning

Location

Always try to locate a piano in a room with constant temperature and humidity. Avoid standing the piano close to frequently open doors and windows causing drafts, to heaters and fireplaces, to the steam from kitchens and bathrooms, and direct exposure to the sun.

Temperature and humidity control

Although this cannot always be accomplished easily, Try to maintain the required levels for temperature and humidity. Keeping a piano covered when not in use and equip it with a humidity control device, will contribute very much to piano tuning stability.

Frequent Tuning

Frequent piano tuning assures the player of hearing proper harmonious sounds. The more often a piano tuning is performed, the smaller are the adjustments that need to be made by the piano tuner during every piano tuning. The smaller the adjustments made the more stable the piano tuning will be. The more stable the tuning, the longer it will last.

Only Make Use Of A Qualified Professional To Tune Your Piano

Always make use of a qualified professional to tune your piano. Like in all other trades, there are also backyard mechanics working in the piano tuning industry. Make use of the piano services of someone who have membership of, and are accredited by a governing body like the Logo of the South African Association of Professional
Piano Tuners South African Association of Professional Piano Tuners. There are a few unqualified individuals operating in South Africa, and some even claim to be affiliated to the South African Association of Professional Piano Tuners - often responsible for severe damage and creating more work due to their lack of knowledge and skills. Piano owners would be wise to beware the stranger bearing a tuning fork and an ingratiating smile claiming to be a piano tuner. Keep in mind that qualified piano technicians receive proper training as they work with delicate, hugely expensive musical instruments which often has sentimental value to its owner. Members of the Logo of the South African Association of Professional
Piano Tuners South African Association of Professional Piano Tuners carry an id card with an expiry date, stating their membership. To have a piano tuning done by an unqualified person, will be risky, and not very clever.

Do You Need A Piano Tuning?

If you want your piano tuned by trained and qualified professionals, For your convenience contact us or book an appointment with a piano tuner.

image of Kallie Swanepoel piano tuner performing a piano tuning in Pretoria Gauteng South Africa

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Kallie Swanepoel Piano Tuners is affiliated with, and accredited by, the Logo of the South African Association of Professional
Piano Tuners South African Association of Professional Piano Tuners

Kallie Swanepoel Piano Tuners CC Registration Number 2003/023549/23