2025-04 Pin Setting
Dean Petrich
After tuning each string, slightly wiggle the tuning hammer left and right, and forward and backward, to eliminate any residual pin torque and flag poling.
As the tuning hammer turns a tuning pin, the pin block resists the tension and the pin literally twists; when the tuning hammer is released, the twist will relax and the pitch will drop slightly, which is why we generally tune a flat note above pitch and then nudge it down. During almost any turn of the pin, especially when using a tuning hammer tip that is too large for the tuning pin, there can occur a slight bending or flag-poling of the pin forwards or backwards in addition to turning it in the block. Once you hear that the note is where you want it, the simple practice of wiggling the tuning hammer in each direction on the pin provides immediately feedback as to where the pin has settled, and allows for minute adjustments to set the pin in a stable position.
When tuning unisons, if you tune the right string, the center string, and the left string, for example, take a couple seconds to go back and check the center string and the right string that you just tuned. This double-unison tuning will let you know how well you set your pins. Adjust accordingly.
2025-03 Center Pin Lube
Dean Petrich
Carry a center pin lubricant in a separate case to every tuning.
Probably the most common problem for notes that don’t work is that the center pins are sluggish. Debris, rubbing keys, misalignment, or dislodged springs are easy to fix, but if a center pin is tight, there are only three ways to fix it, and CPL is the quickest. Sometimes you can borrow an (or use your own) electric hair drier to dry out tight center pins, but there are times when the flange is so stiff that the center pin must be replaced. However, if you have a small oiler bottle with a long needle to reach hammer, jack, and damper center pins, you will usually be able to solve the problem quickly without removing the action. As a precaution, carry lubricants and glues in a dedicated container that can accommodate spills or breakage.
2025-02 Tuning Lever Tips
Dean Petrich
Carry a selection of tuning lever tips in your tuning case.
Not all tuning pins are the same size. A #3 tip will feel too sloppy on a #1 or #2 pin, and a #1 tip won’t even fit over a #3 pin. Antique square grands have rectangular instead of square tuning pins and require a long head to reach over the frame; a normal tip will not even fit. Rocker stringer pianos require a square rather than a star tip. Ideally, your selection of tips should include #1, #2, #3, square, and rectangular, a tip removal tool, plus heads of different angles and lengths.
Another option is to carry a separate dedicated case containing tuning hammers ready to go, each with a different tip already attached. While you’re at it, add an impact hammer, a ball-handle hammer, a T-hammer, and a harpsicord tuning hammer. You are now prepared to tune anything.
2025-01 Troubleshooting
Dean Petrich
When troubleshooting anything that is not working, or sounds that shouldn’t exist, systematically eliminate possibilities starting at the beginning with the simplest solutions and working towards the most complex at the other end.
For example, start with the front of the key, move back to the center and sides of the key, look at the end of the key, and then work your way up from the capstan, flanges, whippen, and action parts in order, through to the hammer, the dampers, the string, the termination points, the bridge, the soundboards, the ribs, and the basic piano frame. As you go, isolate each part you are examining. As you eliminate what it is not, your number of possibilities of what it is reduce down until you find the one (or sometimes multiple) issue. Defining the problem is the first step towards a remedy.
2024-12 Temperature
Dean Petrich
A tuning fork is designed to be at its correct pitch at 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Test it against an electronic tuning device (ETD). Look at the current temperature and test it. Place it in your pocket for awhile and test it again, and the tune should have gone flat. Lay it on an ice pack and test it; the tone will have moved sharp. Find out what temperature is optimal for your personal tuning fork. Try different notes and styles of forks. For example, aluminum forks are more sensitive to temperature changes than steel forks.
Tune a single string to pitch on a grand piano. Now rapidly rub your fingers up and down on the string to heat it up, then check the pitch on your device, and listen to it by playing it with the neighboring unison that you did not rub: you can see and hear the difference. Time how long it takes the string to cool off by watching the pitch rise to its original position. Does it return precisely, does it remain slightly flat, or does it possibly move sharp? Do the same experiment by laying an ice pack on a perfectly tuned string.
The piano supply houses, and sometimes hardware stores, carry a hygrometer/thermometer. Keep one in your tuning kit, and set it on each piano you tune. Record the temperature and humidity readings on your customers’ receipts after each tuning. Some technicians go so far as to maintain a spreadsheet of each reading over time for every single piano. Dampp-Chaser claims that the ideal relative humidity for a piano is around 42-43%, and the best temperature is around 68-74 degrees. As we know, this is not the case for most environments. Desert climates and oceanside beach houses vary tremendously. The important factor is not whether the room is hot or cold, or dry or damp; the key factor is whether or not those numbers remain constant. We want stability.
I was asked to tune a grand piano in a hand-made house in the woods outside of Port Townsend. No one was home, and they left the door unlocked for me. I went upstairs and found the piano in a sun room with walls and ceiling all in glass. A check made out to me was sitting on the piano lid. Since the house was surrounded by tall trees, the room was totally shaded. I opened the lid and began. However, as I was about half-way through my tuning, the sun started to climb over the trees and the room began to warm up. At first, I didn’t think it would matter too much: I was half-done and would speed up my tuning before the room got any warmer.
Unfortunately, the room turned out to be a heat sink, and continued to get warmer. Going back to check on what I had just tuned, I found that every note had dropped several cents flat. Although I considered compensating for this shift with the remainder of my tuning, I decided to start over and tune the piano with the room at the warmer temperature. Even then, the room seemed to continue to heat up as the sun moved directly over the piano. I looked where the sun was going and wondered how long it would take to go below the trees on the west. I tuned the piano as accurately as I could and as quickly as I could, but before I could finish, the sun did start moving behind the tallest trees, and the room noticeably began cooling off.
As I packed up my tools and drove away from the house, I had several thoughts. Of course, my first thought was that a sun room was the worst place to put a piano. My second thought was that next time I would schedule the tuning to be done either totally in the shade or totally in the sun, but not during the transition. My third thought was to find out what time of day the piano player sat at the piano; that would be the time it should have been tuned. By tuning the piano at a set temperature, in theory the piano would remain in tune to itself, moving sharp and flat uniformly as the temperature changed, although in reality, most likely the strings were not perfectly uniform and this piano will not retain a fine tune for more than a few days or weeks in its current location. I hoped the customer was satisfied.