Tuning: The Basics

Why does a piano need regular tuning? Why does it go out of tune? What does tuning involve?

A piano is a complex assembly of metal, wood, felt and cloth parts. More than two hundred steel “strings” varying in length and thickness, and with the lower ones covered with copper wire, are secured at both ends and stretched very tightly over a wooden bridge which transmits the strings’ vibration to the sound board.

Metals parts expand and contract with changes in temperature. Wooden parts expand and contract with changes in humidity.

As the weather changes and as the seasons change, tiny amounts of expansion and contraction take place in the materials of the piano. Strings change in tension by almost infinitesimal amounts, and settle in new positions. This affects the pitch of the sounds they produce.

At one end, each string is coiled round a tuning pin, and using a special tool called a Tuning Lever, the piano tuner adjusts the position of the tuning pins so that the strings are at the right tension.

The arrangement of all the notes in the musical scale, and of all seven octaves of the piano, is complicated, both in theory and in practice. For more information on this, see the more detailed information sheet on this page.

Regular tuning – generally twice a year for pianos in the domestic situation – helps your piano to become more stable and keeps it sounding as it was meant to sound.