You Can Tune Your Own Piano: Part 1
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Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I'm Robert Estrin. Today's subject is about how to tune your own piano. Can you tune your own piano? That is the real question. I'm going to provide you with the information so you will know if you can tune your piano, and if you want to tune your own piano. But more than that, I'm going to show you an incredibly valuable skill that you can all take to heart: how to touch up the tuning on your piano! That is something I think every pianist should learn how to do. I've been doing it for years. You're going to love it once you learn how to do this!
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This is absolutely an invaluable skill to have. Pianists often know the least about their instruments when compared to other instrumentalists, and learning how to make even a few small adjustments can be a total game changer. From touch up tuning, to regulating the damper pedal, sometimes a small five minute fix can make the world of difference in your playing experience.
I absolutely agree with you 100 percent.
As a piano player (5 years by the 28th of April now :) and enthusiast I 1000% agree. (Luckily) I always have been fascinated since the beginning about how pianos are made, work and how piano technichans are the art behind piano. I'm always surprised about how many people that play piano don't know about their instrument, not even the basics, it's like I'd always ask my self do these people even care?
I guess it's like driving a car without caring about firing order or spark advance. When the piano sounds off a bit, let someone with the required *patience* tune it.@@pianistwonderful364
Just about enough information to make me appreciate the complexity and experience required to do the job correctly.
Thanks for this insightful video. It helps to appreciate the tuner work!
This video is absolutely helpful. You explain so well clear! Thank you so much!
Great share, thank you for taking the time to provide the info.
Thanks for your video Robert. I agree. I too have been touch tuning those few off notes on my Baldwin SF10 for years. And like you mentioned, I leave the big arduous tunings to my tuning technician where real experience and expertise is definitely needed.
Thanks for the wonderful video
Oh wow! That was fantastic! Thank you Robert for sharing the knowledge and for the demonstration! A completely new knowledge for me. I will find the courage to try this out. However, what I will be sure to do is to salute my piano tuner next time he is in - I realised it is insane! Cheers!
Helpful hint: use a guitar pick to pluck the strings. It is small and narrow and designed to pluck strings. Ironic, yes! Practical, absolutely!!!
Great idea. Also taping a string on the pick in case it falls would be wise.
Clever _nom de plume_ you have there, Señior Vega, but I know who you _really_ are, you 🦊 foxy devil.
Not practical at all!
YASS!
It's much more reliable than the inconsistency of a flimsy fingernail.
(I use a finger pick)
Thanks so much for this video and tips! I have a few notes one octave below middle C that often go out of tune after my piano has been recently tuned when the humidity changes significantly. You have inspired me to to get a tuning kit and try to do touch up tuning for notes like this. I am still going to leave the full piano tuning for the experts!
When will there be a part 2?? Great video, very educational, looking forward to a part 2!
Thank you, Robert! Not only are you a fount of great information, but your outstanding presentation skills make the information crystal clear. You are a master!
Very helpful. Tried it on middle c and e. It worked!
Thanks Robert, love your vids mate
I'm a piano tuner. I've tried several times to teach some of my clients to be brave and touch up some notes if they need to. But most of them don't want to, some of them for caution and don't want to make mistakes, which I think It's ok. Some of them because they are too lazy to learn manual labor. And some do touch up their notes but they hurt the instrument because they don't have good musical hearing, It's common among pianists in my country not being able to sing in tune. those don't even appreciate the work I do when calling me is inevitable because they've done too much of a mess to even dare to try fixing it for themselves.
Tricky issue. But great video as usual!
Great work as always, Robert! When I still had my Baldwin SD-10, I tuned and touched it up constantly so it would hold its tune longer. Finding a local PTG technician that also likes to teach is INVALUABLE.
Tip of the trade for upright tuning: tie a bit of strong cord between the two metal skewer rings at the other end on the mute wedges. That way, if one of the mute wedges falls into the piano, pulling on the remaining length of the string will quickly rescue it.
Wow, thanks for the lesson! It was really interesting! I hope that you make more videos about it! :)
Great video, thanks!
Thank you for this video
Thanx, Robert. 🌹
Yeah! Thanks for sharing!
Very good detail in this video, appreciate this very much, need to help a friend tune his and this will help a lot!
Good to know
Thanks for sharing
Thanks this is great
What a great and informative video!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thank for the video. In order to gain courage, I am trying this a couple of weeks before my piano tech visits me. If I make a terrible mistake, he will be here anyway to fix my issues.
Thank you!!
Thanks for your goodness
One of the most common sense videos I've ever seen regarding piano tuning. Thanks 🙂👍
Nice! I will do
Good video and advice. I have a tool kit that I keep in my piano bench that I bought off of Amazon for spot tuning-it pays off between tunings. A quick story, one Sunday morning prior to church, the Steinway D had an out of tune unison... I was asked to shore up the tuning with my kit, which I did. However, I was very nervous and didn’t want break the piano-all turned out good. 😀 On a separate topic, my Baldwin’s R’s serial # is very close to your serial number...mine is 196745... I noticed they used Phillip head screws on the SF vs. flatheads on the R’s at that time...just an observation-small world. Again, a good video, thanks.
Cool - Where is part 2??
Hello Robert,
I have touched up tuning before but used a tuning meter to help decide whether the string was high or low.
I love it!!
April 4, 2023
Greetings to you, my Respected and Admired Pianist and Professor: "ROBERT ESTRIN".
For some "Time..." I wanted to Learn and Know about the "Art of Tuning a Piano".
Because although I began the Study and Practice of the "PIANO" a few years ago..., I always had the "Dream" of Learning to Tune Pianos.
Your -EXPLANATION- on the subject of Tuning, has been very PROFESSIONAL in the Basics and of course from "you", and I have understood it. I have understood and understood it; for that, I express my highest THANKS!
And it is that now -I Understand and I Understand-, in the Readings and Videos...that I see and listen to the -Why is it Explained and Taught, that to become a
Great Piano Tuner, you need a lot of .... but a lot of -PRACTICE- tuning Pianos.
Thank you once again...my Admired and Respected Pianist and Piano Teacher: Mr. "ROBERT ESTRIN".
I am writing and greeting you from the city of Miami, FL 33130.
Excuse me if I did not introduce myself before: My name is "Hannibal Selas". Although I am a Lyric Singer, it is only about 12 years ago..., that I started to study the Piano.
Greetings and Hugs .... and may you have a "Wonderful Month of APRIL!
Yours Affectionately: "Hannibal Selas"
Thank you Robert. Do you give tuning lessons? Stephen
First comment! I was never that early ...
Fantastic and very informative video, as always ...
I live in a rural community in Oregon. Im interested in this because I can't even get a tuner to return my calls to tune my 6-foot Yamaha C-3 which I just bought! Amazing! I need to learn this skill on my own I think.
Sorry to hear that, Flylooper! I'm in Southern Oregon, too far away, but have been a registered piano tech/tuner (RPT) for 38 years. If you haven't found someone by now let me know, I can probably find a good tuner that will do it. Where exactly are you? A C3 is a great piano. Louise
Good stuff. Thanks Robert!
I use piano meter Pro and the results are outstanding. Best tuning I have ever had and done. 😊
Fascinating, great insights. Thank you for a terrific video.
I would have appreciated some recommendations for piano tuners for people who do not want to learn to listen for the proper tone. That would be difficult for any beginning to do without a tuner.
Hey Robert. Love your videos. I searched for but didn't find a "You Can Tune Your Own Piano: Part 2" Was this ever made?
I have to do this on my piano regularly since I only get my piano tuned a couple times a year normally. It helps a lot to be able to tune a note to itself.
Wow! You get your piano tuned several times a year? I thought once a year was the standard?
@@thomasmcclain8116 Might depend on where you live. Where I live in the northeast US the standard is twice-after the seasons change as the temperature and humidity changes, so about January and July.
Thank you!! You're an awesome instructor!
Great video! Thank you.
Robert - this was a good lesson for those who can use caution and a careful use of the tuning hammer. I realize mentioning the issue of setting a temperment was beyond the scope of your lesson, but this is indeed a very important matter for potential "tuners" to know about. One suggestion, though -- I would refrain from using your finger to pluck strings. The natural chemicals and moisture in skin can corrode a piano string over time. Using a small plucking tool or even a metal dental pick would be preferable. Otherwise - well done!
This is a good point. You want to avoid having your skin come in contact with the strings.
I do find that this is much more of a problem with the wound strings as opposed to the steel strings. The oils in your fingers do affect different chemicals differently and for the most party you can just wipe down the steel strings with a rag and get all of that oil off. However with the wound strings it can get in-between the winds and ultimately corrodes far faster than steel. The good news is that those are bi-cords that you will be touching up so you generally can just use your rubber mute to check that much easier than with the tri-cords. I have seen a technical in regards to pitch raising where the tuner literally pitch raised the piano by plucking the strings. This made it so that they could do a pitch raise in about 5 minutes and then proceeded to do the fine tuning bringing the total time to about 50 minutes with a pitch raise. I personally have refrained from doin this as I personally prefer to not destroy my finger nails plucking strings for 5-10 minutes strait, but it was an interesting tactic to say the least.
And how many times I reached in the piano and plucked the strings. I even done it with the action removed. I know about. Oil and it can change the pitch on hand bells. That's why hand bell players wear gloves.
You can use a guitar tuner. Mute the outside strings on the Unison an octave below the out of tune string and an octave above. I would get 6 mutes so to only hear the middle strings. That would be 3 octaves. Measure them with the tuner.
So if the piano is sharp or flat just tune the out of tune string
to the average pitch of the lower and higher octave.
So if you are having a hard time hearing the out of tune string match it to the tuner using the pitch of the middle strings.
Or do the tuning like the video said. Check the pitch of the in tune string match the out of tune to it. A tuner can help.
What about 'voicing' the hammers? What about 'touch' and regulation? What about chasing sounds, ie...' rattles' ? What if keybed is unlevel? Can y of replace keybed felts front, back, center an level them properly? What do you do about loose hammers/ wippens? Can you remove string marks in hammers by hand w/ sand paper the voice said hammer ? Much cheaper, to have to a professional tuner/tech to service your piano yearly than to try to DIY and then have to call a piano tech. Folks, by hand?
Ok I could never do that. Thus I have to use a tuner as a beginner. So my question is which tuner app do you like or recommend? I looked at pianoscope, piano tuner, T1, etc. what do you like?
The nightmare scenario is for a piano buyer to find an incredible deal - knowing the piano is out of tune - thinking "I'll have it tuned - no problem". Just to get it home and realise a good portion of the instrument will NEVER hold pitch because the pin block is SHOT! It happened to me. Live and learn. Everyone who owns a piano, or is in the market for a piano, should first purchase a tuning hammer. If the piano you're about to buy is out of tune, put that tool on the pins and see what happens. If the strings will, in no way, hold pitch, you're looking at quite the venture ($) to correct the issue. For just the price of a tuning hammer, you can save yourself a lot of heartache.
Just be careful you don't break a string on a piano you don't own yet!
The truth is, I am not brave enough to do it
So you have an untuned piano...lose-lose!
Not so much. I can understand if the piano is old and out of tune by the tuning fork. Also the pins must be set or your tuning will go out even in a few minutes. I remember my first try at tuning the piano. I did it for a friend and the whole piano was out of tune before I got done with the instrument. If you cannot hear the beats I would advise let only a piano technician touch your piano. You can learn to hear the beats if you detune a sting and compare it with the tuning fork. A good electronic tuning fork works great for piano tuner lessons. I tuned a few harpsichords with Hale electronic tuning fork. The choir director always called on me. To tune the university's harpsichord. I even tuned it during intermission during a concert.
@@JohnCasteel1333 So you didn't break a string or cause your piano tech to roll their eyes at your attempt. Good for you!
Heyy there’s something I’ve tried before! It works ok for me, but it did take several touch ups before the tuning was bearable haha. After a point I get really tired from listening for tuning that the middle notes are tuned well, but the outer notes are much sloppier!
I went online and saw a blue million piano tuning kits. How do I know which one is best?
Love
Help? Can someone please recommend the best tuning hammer? I'm finding nothing but junk online. Most of them seem to be unbranded. I need one with a reputable name. Thank you.
Contact a tuning supply house, the generic ones online are very poor quality.
Good topic. I’ve actually tuned my 74 year old Knabe console a few times. Took me a few hours the first time, and I wasn’t happy with the results. I was eventually able to get it sounding pretty close, but never as good as paying a tuner. I now have a 114 year old Mason & Hamlin Model AA grand, completely rebuilt a year ago. I practice 1-3 hours a day and with the new strings still stretching, notes will sometimes go out of tune within a week or two of having it tuned. I think you have encouraged me to start touching it up between tunings. :)
Thank you!!! Everyone that plays piano should know how to tune them!!! More videos about this issue. :-)
I purchased my Kawai KG-2E in 1990 - The same technician has been tuning my piano every year. He is now 84. He was just out to tune my piano. - The same technician has been tuning my piano every year. He is now 84. He was just out to tune my piano, he said this would be his last tune on our piano. He is retiring to Florida. 😎 Looking for a new piano technician.
My piano gets a “twang” on some notes. Well the piano tuner says “You can’t expect your piano so sound like a Grand, it’s a spinet, what I have done is the best you’re gonna get. And that will be 200 bucks”. So I bought a tuning wrench, 65 bucks. My not so Grand piano no longer has a twang!!,
I tune my own piano. I learned with my personal piano tuner and technician. I don't have a professional tool though.
I tried this, just one note. It was a raging mess. Had to call the tuner to correct my effort, to the tune of $75.00. It was a good learning experience though. New respect for the tuner gained.
At 10:40 you raise the string but it doesn't pass pure. It's still out of tune. Then at 11:00 you pluck the strings and the string is now sharp, but like I said, the unison did not pass pure. The string would have had to pass through pure for it now to be sharp. And it is now out of tune by a different amount. Did you edit the recording? Because it is very, very important for beginners to understand and recognize the sound of a unison as one of the strings pass pure. That did not happen with your unison but you basically say it does. But we don't hear it. It's impossible that that happened without you editing the recording.
Thanks chuck mcgill
Is the German Steinway as good as the American?
While there have been some issues with NY Steinways during the CBS era, the output from NY is as close to Hamburg as it's ever been.
What is important is the specific piano. The brand doesn't mean mutch especially if the intstrament has been abused or had some bad design decisions made. There are many steinways with horrible design flaws that make the instrament not play well. For example some steinways will have extra long keys and an accelerated action which when combined together means you can literally touch the piano key to the keyframe at both ends. In other words the key is way too flexable. When you are playing something with this issue, you will find that there is a limit to how loud you can play as you are literally bending the key and the force you are pushing down on the key with is being absorbed before it gets to the hammer. This leads to pianists hitting the keys extra hard and not getting the results they want.
But there are some very good steinways that come out of the factory as well. There are also good and bad piano rebuilds. The best piano I have ever played was actually a piano rebult by my mentor. It was a knabe from the turn of the century with a custom soundboard design, scale, and wng action and it is the most wonderful piano I have ever played or heard. This is compared to things like the top of the lind bosendoffer imperial grand with the extra notes, steinways, mason and hamlins and literally well over a 1000 different pianos from various manufacturers and qualities.
So when it comes down to it, pay no attention to the branding. Just play the pianos and figure out which one in your price range plays how you want it to.
Personally, I prefer Yamaha or Petrof to Steinway. Just my humble opinion, though.
Good idea! What could go wrong?
Can I ask something. Can I place a piano in a room that has s fireplace?
You can, but if the piano is getting direct heat from the fireplace, it can go out of tune faster and unevenly due to the heat warping the wood and metal strings. Constant changes in temperature that aren't even across the piano will create these kinds of issues. You will get a similar issue if you place your piano in front of a window that gets direct sunlight.
this video is making me question my decision of buying an acoustic. maybe is hould just stick with digitals.
Trust me, it is more work, but it is worth it all the way. So much more expression.
As a piano technician with a Yamaha Accreditation, taught by former heads of Warranties at Yamaha and Kawai, there are a couple things done incorrectly in this video.
1. Do not touch the strings with your skin or fingernails or anything. Just don't do it. It's going to severely shorten the life span of the strings and looks terrible. It's one of the easiest things to avoid and yet people seem utterly unable to grasp that you should avoid it.
2. If you're spending more than 30 seconds trying to get a string in tune you've spent too long trying to get that string in tune for it to be stable. The strings of a piano are made from spring steel, a material that is designed to set to a specific shape and stay in that shape. The more you try to move the string around the more it will try to fight back and the quicker the string will float away from where you wanted to set it.
I have no objections to people learning the sheer basics of piano tuning, but please be careful and know what you're trying to do and that making a mistake and damaging your piano's pin block is a very, very, very expensive repair.
I have a C-3 I can't even get a tuner to come to my house in the country to tune. (It's just slighly out, mostly ini low registers, but I want it perfect (of course)! I'm apprehensive to fool with such an expensive instrument to start with but what's a guy living in the boondocks to do?
So how are you supposed to sound the strings individually when you can't touch them?
Can i touch it with a guitar pick?
If you did not attend Yamaha's 'Little Red Schoolhouse', as I did, to get Yamaha Certification, you Sir are a LIAR! I am also Factory Certified by Wurlitzer, Baldwin, Kimball, Steinway & Son, Weber, Kawaii, Sammich. (I've been at this a day or 4).
@@DrChaad you shouldn't need to pluck individual strings, you just mute out one and play the note normally to get the two in tune with each other then repeat the process for the third string by moving your mute to the opposite side.
I like the term "meowing" that describes when one or 2 unisons are just a bit off. Instead of hearing a clear "bannnnnnnnnnnnng", you hear "Bannnnnnngyyyyyowwwwwwwyyyyowwwww" (or REALLY more like "bannnnnnnnnnyyyannnnnnnngyyyyyaaaaaaaaang") . But that's just me. Sometimes I just like to comment stupid stuff.
Lol at 11:56 "and listen to these two pitches" sounds like "and listen to these two bitches. HAha. Thanks for a very informative video!!
horror story i had an upright and it didnt sound good my mom thought it needed refurbishing and so she had me destroy it. we had never thought about tuning it. a while after smashing it i was watching some videos on tuning i figured it probs just needed a tune lol.
I have seen people go to the piano store to buy a new piano when the only problem with their piano is that they hadn't tuned it in 20 years. They just thought it went bad and didn't think they needed to get it tuned.
arduous is correct, and plucking is not a word to be slurred. to tune a piano is to flirt with insanity.
What is even crazier is equil temperament. Fun fact you do not tune a piano. You just make sure that it is equilly out of tune.
I watch the entire video without having a piano, I don’t know how I even get here, maybe because I’m high 😂 … not sure why I found the out of tune string charming…
Please don't touch the soon to be rusty strings with your fingers.
Hi, I have an old Hallet Davis spinet (probably from the 1950's). I "touch up tune" it often. I use a combination of techniques , but I can't come close to a professional piano technician's abilities. Often, I can tune it without even using mutes...and just using my one piece tuning hammer. Yeah, it's only a spinet and it's old and challenging... BUT..it's a great brand and I love the thing anyway. Oh yeah, I also have eight digital keyboards as well and they never are out of tune. GREAT VIDEO though. Thanks for posting.
Are any makes easier to tune than others?
Larger pianos are easier to tune than smaller pianos. If a piano is in poor condition it can be very difficult to tune as well. A higher quality piano will generally be easier to tune than an inferior instrument.
Small yamahas are specially difficult to tune, the slightiest discrepancy in a unison makes it unberable to hear, I wouldn't recommend touching those.
Grands are easier than uprights generally speaking. And softer well voiced hammers are the key here, they tend to provide a wider range of tuning than hard new or worn out hammers
There are some steinways that have very large distances from the tuning pin to the termination points which make it so you can keep on putting tension on the pin and get no result until you break that initial momentum. A common way to tune a piano with this problem is to use flagpoling to break that initial tension so that you can get a stable tuning. It is an absolute pain in the neck and something that isn't recommended for armature piano tuners since flagpoling can lead to bent pins which can lead to some very expensive repairs being needed.