Piano Tuner West Virginia Concludes Why Tune a Piano If It Is Not Used

As your piano tuner West Virginia and the surrounding areas, I am often asked why bother to tune a piano if it is not being used. Our last few posts discussed the stress to the piano’s strings when proper tension is restored after an extended period without tuning. This post will discuss the stress to the soundboard, an integral part of your piano, if your piano were not tuned regularly.

The soundboard is the large piece of wood below or behind the strings on your piano. Its purpose is to amplify the sound from the piano strings. Without a soundboard, your piano would be about as loud as an electric guitar with the amplifier turned off. The vibrations from the strings are transferred to the soundboard, which amplifies the sound. The typical soundboard is only 3/8″ thick and made of  spruce, a soft wood. The reason spruce is used, is that it transmits sounds faster along its grain than any other wood. For a piano to perform well, it needs to transmit the sound from the string to the whole soundboard as quickly as possible. The soundboard is a relatively fragile structure, which has about 500 pounds of total pressure on it from the strings.

When a piano is properly tuned, the pressure on the soundboard is distributed according to the initial design of the instrument. When a piano goes out of tune, however, the tension is not released evenly. The stresses of strings at different pressures can torque the soundboard, resulting in stresses to the relatively fragile structure. A cracked soundboard can vibrate when the piano is played, making the instrument unusable. Repair of a cracked soundboard can run thousands of dollars. Usually, the piano must be moved to a piano shop. The strings, tuning pins, and cast iron plate are removed, and the soundboard is secured to the ribs below. Then the cracks are shimmed and the whole piano soundboard refinished. Following that, the plate would be reinstalled and the instrument restrung.

We recommend simply marking your calendar to tune your piano regularly. The majority of piano makers recommend twice a year. If you have other questions about pianos, please let us know. We are your West Virginia piano tuning expert.