While all standard pianos have 88 keys, the average medium sized piano contains about 230 strings all finely crafted and configured to produce the right tones for each key of the instrument. Each string of the piano actually pulls at about 165lbs of tension. Because of this, even if a piano is only moderately played, or even not played at all, over time the high tension on each string will gradually pull them out of proper pitch. The piano tuner's job is to use specialized tools and techniques to restore any off pitch notes back to their proper tone so that each and every note and key of the piano is in tune with the others. The standard recommended by most piano manufacturers is to tune your piano every six months or about twice a year. Pianos that are played frequently or used for performances professionally may require much more frequent tuning or perhaps even emergency tuning (e.g. before an important performance) of one or two notes only.

All standard pianos are designed to be tuned to the standard musical pitch known as A440 or 440hz. While a piano may be perfectly in tune with itself, occasionally (more commonly with older pianos) the entire relative pitch of a piano may become divergent of this musical standard. This can especially cause problems when trying to play with other musicians on other instruments; the piano will never be quite in tune with the others. When this is the case the piano requires a complete pitch correction back to A440. Pitch correction is a much more involved procedure than regular tuning and can take two to three times as long and possibly need to be performed over a number of different tuning sessions to allows the pianos strings times to stretch accordingly.

Over 7500 finely engineered and crafted moving, mechanical parts are responsible the way a pianos keys move, trigger hammers, strike the strings and respond to the hands of the pianist. This is known as the pianos Action. For optimal playability  pianos are designed to have identical responsiveness (Action) from each key over the entirety of the keyboard. Over time and due to various conditions and factors, consistent action responsiveness can waver, with one or more keys on the piano growing slower or otherwise out of sync with the others. Action regulating is thus a regular aspect of the piano technicians services.

As with the action response of each and every piano key, the tone quality, sound or "voice" of each and every piano note is designed and intended to be consistent and identical to all of the others. Over time one or more keys may diverge from the standard as well, eliciting a differing quality of tone - whether "darker," "brighter" or otherwise "off" etc. This is caused by ordinary wear on the felt heads of the pianos hammers from striking the strings.

9302 81st Street, Lakewood, WA 98498
(253) 468-3395 ‎