Ask Barb

Your piano's worst enemy is fluctuation in humidity. During humid months, the soundboard in your piano swells and exerts extra tension on the strings, which makes them go sharp. In the drier months, the soundboard dries out and shrinks, releasing some tension on the strings, causing your piano to go flat. Contrary to popular belief, it is not moving a piano, excessive play, or no play at all that makes it go out of tune. When a piano is new (under 10 years of age), more frequent tunings will be required before the strings "stabilize". This is true of all makes of pianos regardless of where they were built or what name is on the front.

It all depends on what you use it for. If you are a concert pianist, your piano could be tuned as often as once per week. If you play your piano at home its a good idea to get it done at least once per year. If your budget can handle it do it twice per year, when humidity levels are not too high or too low. People who are sensitive to minor changes in pitch on a piano will likely notice their piano needs tuning before someone who can't tell the difference. New pianos will require tunings more frequently than older ones until the strings "stabilize" over time.

Giving the note a hard tap after the tuning pin has been turned with a hammer equalizes the tension along the length of the string, and prevents it from wanting to return to it's original untuned position.

A number of factors determine the cost of a piano tuning. If a piano has not been tuned for a while, it may need a pitch raising, which gives the strings a good stretch and prepares them for tuning. The piano may require a double tuning. The distance the technician will have to travel to get to the piano's location will factor into it as well. My prices are listed under "Services". If you think they are too high, you are free to shop elsewhere, because my fees are non-negotiable!

Think seriously about doing it yourself. I always recommend hiring a professional piano mover for many reasons. Remember that an upright piano, especially an older one, can weigh as much as 1000 pounds. It is very easy to injure yourself trying to move something this heavy. I've heard stories of clients who've dislocated shoulders, had hernias, or lost a finger or a toe because the piano fell on them. You can also do a lot of damage to either your property or the piano if it happens to fall during a move. Professional movers have the correct equipment and the knowledge of how to do it without hurting themselves, your home or the piano. Should this happen, they are covered by liability or workers compensation insurance which you wouldn't have if you did it yourself. Remember, these things are heavy and moving them requires complete understanding of how gravity and inertia work!!

The outside of a piano is much like our clothing. It has no bearing whatsoever on the acoustical properties of the piano, as sound is transmitted from the soundboard, not the cabinet. What makes a piano a good instrument is what is happening inside. Think of the piano as if it is a car - a good paint job doesn't change what's happening under the hood!! The only way to be sure that you're also getting a good instrument is to have a qualified piano technician look at it BEFORE you buy it and pay to move it into your home, not after it's too late. Don't buy a piano based strictly on it's appearance - it can be deceiving, especially on the older pianos.

A440 refers to the frequency in cycles per second of the "A" above Middle C in a piano. Once that note has been set, the rest of the notes in the piano are also set at certain musical intervals from that note. The result is a piano that is at "concert pitch". This is the pitch at which all orchestral instruments are tuned so that they sound good when played together. For a piano, it means that it can be played with other instruments that are also at concert pitch.

On some pianos, it is not always possible to bring a piano up to concert pitch because of the risk of string breakage or general poor condition of the piano due to aging. In this case the piano is tuned at "relative pitch", so that it is evenly flat. However, a piano tuned at this pitch cannot be played with other instruments that are tuned at concert pitch. They must be tuned to match the piano if it is necessary to play it with other instruments.

It is always desirable to leave a piano at A440, or concert pitch, but when this is not possible, the piano should be tuned so that it is evenly flat, since it is ultimately better to have it tuned evenly flat, than not to tune it at all.

Only if you can figure out a way to get it to me, otherwise, I do charge!

A player piano is one that will play when the person pumps a foot pump causing air to make its way through miles of rubber tubing to react to information on "rolls" that represent the notes to be played. The player mechanism is very complex, and the rubber tubing inside the mechanism dries out or becomes brittle which can prevent air from being transported to the action to play the note. They make certain pianos very difficult to service, as the mechanism is quite often in the way of the action of the piano, which your technician needs access to in order to be able to tune it properly.

A drop action piano is an upright piano that has a "drop" action or mechanism. Drop action pianos are usually very short, under 40 inches in height. They are sometimes also called spinet pianos. A drop action piano can be detected, if when the top lid of the piano is open, the "hammers" are almost level with the back of the keys, and the back of the keys stop short of the action. The depth of these pianos is usually greater also, and the distance they protrude from a wall is anywhere from 6-10" greater than a traditional upright. These pianos are usually bad choices for instruments for several reasons. Their touch and tone is generally poor because of the size of the soundboard and indirect lifting action of the keys, and they are extremely difficult pianos to service, even for something as simple as a broken string or loose action screw. If you are not sure whether a piano you are considering purchasing is a drop action piano, you should hire a technician to rule out the possibility. Many technicians will not bring a badly out of tune drop action piano up to concert pitch for fear of breaking a string while doing so.

A birdcage piano is one in which the wires for the dampers are in front of the action, instead of behind it as one would find in a traditional action. What makes these pianos difficult to tune, is that the wires make it difficult to place mutes for tuning, and the damper felts are mounted above the hammers, leaving little room for proper mute placement in the treble section of the piano. The wires in front give the appearance that the action is behind or in a "birdcage", hence the name. This is also a poor choice for an instrument because many of these pianos were built in England and do not handle the extremes in humidity found in Southern Ontario, and as such, often do not hold a tuning very well. Many of these pianos have beautiful cabinetry, and so it is easy to be fooled into buying this type of piano.

Sorry - I deal in acoustic pianos only, however there are many piano technicians who are also organ technicians who may be able to help you. Digital or electronic pianos are normally serviced by the manufacturer, not the dealer where the unit was purchased.

This is a service that I used to offer for free. Due to an overwhelming number of requests, I've had to discontinue doing this. There are many websites available elsewhere that can do this for you for a fee. Sorry for any inconvenience.

A square grand piano is an older model piano, made in the mid to late 1800's. Instead of the usually curved shape found on modern grands, a square grand is rectangular in shape, often about 6 to 7 ft. long, and about 4 ft. deep. These pianos are also difficult to service as the tuning pins are found at the back of the piano far from the keys, instead of at the front as is found in modern grands. Because it is necessary to be both playing the piano and turning tuning pins at the same time, tuning this type of piano is very challenging. Also because of their age, many are in such poor mechanical condition with cracked soundboards, bridges, and pinblocks, that they are usually nothing more than showpieces.

Yes, I do. All of the graphics and design are my own creations.

I have three pianos (don't ask, long story), both are on my personal top 10 list of favourites. One is a Canadian Heintzman Upright grand that I rescued from an unheated storage locker and restored. It is over 110 years old but in incredible condition for it's age. Pianos number two and three are Japanese Yamaha U1's, one is about 30 years old, the other 10. They are all incredible instruments and as such, will stay with me until I'm gone! I like playing all of them because they couldn't be more different. The Heintzman has a beautiful rich mellow tone, great for classical pieces, and the Yamaha has an amazingly easy touch, great response and clear bright tone, good for contemporary pieces.

Since I'm in the business, I keep the best ones for myself. So when people ask me what my favourites are, I can speak from personal experience!!

At the present time, sadly, there are no in house programs available in Canada. There are several schools of piano technology located in the United States.

The good news is, I am developing a distance education program in Piano Technology that will enable you to study from home at your own convenience and at a self-imposed schedule. To inquire more about this please visit http://www.learnpianotechnology.com.