Imagine the sounds, the roar, the giant sound coming from the family piano. Every note in perfect tune and every single unison flawless. Wait! most pianos never sound that way because owners do not invest time into their pianos. A piano has roughly 230 strings and each one holds a great deal of tension, but here’s a little secret about pianos around Green Bay, WI. Our weather causes wood to expand and contract and this means the piano in church, home, and school will waiver as the seasons change. The other fact unknown to the masses is that piano wire will stretch – pretty crazy? That means tons of tension is on the piano at all times which is effected by humidity, heat, and cold.
They just said, “Piano Guys just said it needs a good tuning.” – what is a good tuning? How can a person tell if their piano has a good tuning? Pianos need to be in tune to tune them well. Just looking at a piano the wrong way can change the pitch. Yes, seriously – pianos drift out of tune pretty quickly depending on the climate. They also drift due to factors like cracks in the wood, bad pin-blocks, loose bridge pins and old strings. Does your piano need a good tuning or perhaps a dose of reality? I’ll give you a hint, the piano needs help, they are investments and they will absolutely be the worst nightmare if they are not kept in good shape. I travel to Door County, Sturgeon Bay, and Carlsville. Specializing in the fine tuning of Bosendorfer, Steinway, Bechstein, and other fine grand pianos.
Piano sitting around for a year and nobody plays it right? A piano reacts to tension the same way a person does when asked, “can i have $200?” A little resistance there eh? How about, “can I have $300?” Things start to feel uncomfortable at a certain point right? How about, “Can I have $5.00,” that doesn’t sound too difficult does it? Exactly right, pianos like to have small adjustments more frequently than large ones, this creates something called tuning stability. In the technical world, we call it a “pitch raise.” A piano will accept little changes to the strings and hold them well, whereas a big change will cause things to go south quickly. When I tune pianos for people that are really “out of tune.” it might take 4-5 visits just to get the piano back up to A=440 (the commonly accepted pitch for a piano. If you try put too much tension on a piano right away, you can crack wood, break piano strings. So, give me a call and let’s talk about the piano you have and see how I can help it. Please note, some pianos might be too far gone to tune, and I won’t touch them. It will cost a bunch of money, it will make the ears hurt and perhaps a dog bark, just not good, and I am all about reality, and good work. Not complaints!