Many piano manufacturers recommend getting your piano tuned 4 times per year. However, most families would do just fine with getting their pianos tuned twice a year. A regular piano tuning frequency will assist in its stability.

Relative humidity changes within your living space will have the greatest influence in your piano’s tuning stability and thus, its recommended tuning frequency/schedule per year. Try keeping your living space’s humidity at 40-60%. It can be ambitious and somewhat unrealistic to maintain 60% in Colorado, but rather its more important to keep it steady and consistent without huge swings. Even around 30-40%, would be acceptable with the help of a higher-end home humidifier.

One recommendation is to tune several weeks after you turn on the heater in the Fall/Winter, and then several weeks after you start using your AC in the Summer. Another recommendation would be to tune before a party or performance/recital when you know you will need a perfectly tuned piano. Additionally, when moving from one home to another, your piano will inevitably go out of tune because of the change in microclimates of your new space. A final recommendation would be to tune the piano if it simply sounds like it’s out of tune, however obvious that recommendation may sound.

Other factors that may affect tuning stability: age of piano, build quality, condition of the soundboard, strings and pins, and if it’s used for institutional, professional, or domestic applications.

For various reasons, your piano might’ve gone so significantly flat, or below its intended pitch, that it’s necessary to have a technician tune your piano not just once, but a second or third time in order to stabilize the sudden thousands of lbs of added pressure to your piano. Alternatively, your piano might have gone so sharp, or above it’s intended A440 proper pitch, that it’s required to take a second pass through the piano to lower the pitch and tension level of your piano to a proper A440 concert pitch level.

Under either of these conditions, I will charge a modest $50.00 for a second pass through tuning during the same visit of our initial tuning. After that, there might be very rare instances that you will need me to revisit in a month to stabilize the tuning once more (the third time), and under those conditions I will charge a $50.00 service call to touch up the tuning. Then, you’ll usually be good to go until your next regularly scheduled tuning.

Refer to my “why should I keep my piano regularly tuned?” faq to learn more.

Firstly, because your piano will sound the most musically inspiring when it’s in tune, and that means you’ll play it more. That’s obvious, I know, but I find that I have to mention it from experience.

Next, keeping your piano tuned at A440 concert pitch will assist in the proper collective tension level of around 40,000 lbs. That’s a lot of pressure! This can help in maintaining the right amount of tension from the strings on the bridges, along with the concave shape (crowning) of your soundboard, thus influencing the ultimate singing tone, sustain, and boom/volume of your piano.

Ironically, if you keep your piano regularly tuned for many years, you might discover that your piano will be a lot more stable for a lot longer of a time, even if you delay or miss a few months from your regular tuning schedule. This is most applicable to well-built pianos that are 50 years old or newer.

If at all possible, keep your piano away from any heater vents blowing directly into a piano. This will dry your piano out to an excessive degree and could cause long-term damage. In the worst cases, especially here in Colorado, a heater vent could eventually cause cracking of your piano’s finish and soundboard and even cause noisy clicking and clacking of your piano’s action components. Even worse, extensively dry conditions could cause your piano to irreversibly lose its ability to hold a tuning. This can especially occur if your piano once lived in a more humid condition for many years and then suddenly relocated to our drier climate here in Colorado and then is intensified with a heater vent blowing straight into the piano.

Secondly, keep your piano in an insulated room further away from drafty walls, windows, and entry/exit points of your house. These factors will work against keeping your piano stable in its tuning.

Do your best to keep your living space at a consistently steady relative humidity level. 40-60% is often recommended by experts in other parts of the country, but here in CO, that can be challenging. 20-40% is even acceptable if kept consistent all year long. Use a professional humidifier, like ‘Venta’ or the only piano specific humidifier which is made by Dampp Chaser -’Piano Life Saver.’

If a piano is made with excellent components and with excellent craftsmanship, a piano can last 50+ years. Yamaha might be the quintessential example for a truly long-lasting and reliable piano that performs consistently at an excellent level.

There are other well-made pianos, hand-crafted with top of the line materials, that would last this long or more. Then, there might be a justifiable point to restring/repin the piano, replace hammers, rebuild and replace other action parts, rebuild and or restore belly components, and refinish the outside of the piano. These processes are expensive and are often not worth the price compared to the cost of purchasing a new piano that will sound and perform better than a rebuilt piano. Bösendorfer, NY Steinway, Yamaha CF or S series pianos, or a variety of high-end German/Euro pianomakers like Steingraeber, Bechstein, Hamburg-Steinway, and Sauter are a few exceptions to the rule that might be worthy of restoration/rebuild.

Pianos made in China, Korea, Indonesia are almost always unworthy of rebuilding/restoration. Instead, these pianos can still be justified as acceptable beginner level instruments worthy of use for 20-30 years or a bit longer, just as long as one services the piano on a regular basis.

If your piano is finished in polished ebony (glossy shiny black), then it is most likely finished with polyester material and sometimes lacquer. Regardless, always use a microfiber cloth and avoid cotton terrycloth or paper towels. Try not to constantly reuse a microfiber cloth that is laden with dust, as those particles can act as a fine abrasive and will accelerate the inevitable result of micro-abrasions that will appear on a once pristine, mirror shine of a polished gloss finish. If your poly finish is dirty with grease and other residue, try using ‘Cory’ brand spray with your microfiber cloth.

If you have a brushed satin finish, (Steinway, Baldwin, Charles Walter or Mason and Hamlin, etc.) your piano might’ve been finished with Lacquer or Polyester. Use a microfiber cloth and wipe in the direction of the lines. Your satin finish will hide dust better than on a high gloss material but will undoubtedly require more work to get fingerprints and other oily marks off of your piano. Use a small dab of dish soap, Simple Green, and warm/hot water with a microfiber cloth, and wipe in the direction of the satin lines of the finish until residue is gone. Then wait for it to dry and repeat if necessary.

To remove microabrasions and swirl marks on a polished finish, reach out to a professional piano refinisher to professionally buff out your piano.

Aerosol furniture sprays (like Pledge) is not recommended to be used on any piano, which could cause long-term damage on the finish, especially if there ever comes a time to fully refinish the piano.

I offer deep cleaning services, primarily for the inside of your piano, mainly the soundboard and action and its inner housing for grand and upright pianos. I also clean the outside finish of your piano, so please reach out with questions. Quote provided after an inspection.

Your beloved century+ old U.S. made upright or grand piano:

During the turn of the 20th century, there were well over 500 piano manufacturers in the U.S., alone. Some experts estimate that there were over 1,000 companies during the year of 1900 when including smaller independent piano makers. It wasn’t terribly uncommon for an artisan to choose piano making as his profession while working in a major city in the midwest or the east coast of America. The piano industry often referred to this time as the “Golden Age” of piano manufacturing. Pianos were among the primary centerpieces of a mid to upper class home at this time and were highly valued as a mainstream piece of “media” or entertainment. Many U.S. pianos were made during this age of industrialization with good quality materials and prideful workmanship. Additionally, the sourcing of quality spruce was plentiful and was among the best - for this entire industry - that we are unlikely to ever see, again.

These “golden age” pianos continued to exist within American homes and continued to outnumber the collective totality of newer pianos produced during the mid-century up until the early aughts of the 21st century. That said, a tremendous number of these antique pianos have rapidly diminished into all but oblivion. The pianos that continue to languish in homes are often considered by their owners as an heirloom or a nostalgic piece of furniture and aren’t high-performing pianos, even for an elementary-level pianist looking to improve in the slightest. Still, these pianos sound unique and carry an ornate beauty all of its own, and because of the quality materials and workmanship, they have lived on to yet one more day of existence.

At some inevitable point, these pianos will start to lose their ability to hold a stable tuning, the strings will become brittle and begin to snap, and all action parts will start to become so sloppy that replacement would be necessary instead of repair or regulation. Many of these pianos can certainly be rebuilt or reconditioned for an extended life, but they never sound, perform, or will ever be monetarily worth what a technician will charge you for the restoration. Even more so, it’s challenging to find a proper restoration tech who would properly rebuild a piano to even an acceptable level of quality and performance. For the price of restoration, which can range from 10k-30k, one could instead justify that budget reallocated to purchasing an amazingly well-performing Japanese or German-made upright piano that would last easily beyond 50 years.

And so, with respect and humility, after the many years of experience servicing these beautiful but delicate pianos, I’ve discovered that they rarely hold a proper tuning and require constant ad hoc repairs until other parts give out and thus the cycle is repeated. I’m selective in servicing these pianos for the sake of saving you the inordinate costs for such little return.

Your beloved piano might hold a value, all of its own, as according to what you personally value your piano to be, just because it has been a part of your family for all or most of your life. That could be priceless for some folks.

That said, I can otherwise provide you with an experienced appraisal estimating the resale, ownership, and replacement value of your piano. I tend not to value pianos older than 50 years, but I’d be happy to hear what you have.

These values would certainly differ to the wholesale value of your piano, that is, if you were to sell your piano to a private retailer.