Piano Tuner West Virginia Writes More On 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 previous post discussed one way that the piano’s strings are stressed when proper tension is restored after an extended period without tuning. This post will discuss a second structural component that leads to stress on the strings.

You may recall from the previous post, that the total string tension on a piano is around 30,000 pounds, which the structure cannot maintain for an indefinite period of time. Pianos must be tuned very 6-12 months, or the tension and pitch drop too much to be brought back up in a normal tuning. If a piano is not tuned regularly, then the tension must be restored with a special procedure. The problem lies in the high tension on the entire instrument. That tension has a downward component onto the soundboard of about 500 pounds. As strings are raised in pitch, the downward force on the soundboard is increased, causing the entire instrument to flex. The result is that for every amount the pitch is raised on a string, the pitch falls 10-38% of that amount in ten minutes. In order for a string to be tuned to standard pitch, it must be tuned higher than that pitch. The amount it must be over-pulled differs on different parts of the piano. In the bass section, that amount is usually 10-12%. In the middle of the piano, it is usually 19-30%. In the treble area, it can be as much as 38%.

When piano strings are tuned to proper pitch, they are at 70% of their breaking tension. They are set to that tension, so that the piano will have enough volume to fill a a concert hall with sound. If a piano is not tuned for a long time, the tension can drop as much as 100% of the way to the note below. If that string were to be raised all the way to the proper pitch, it would need to be over-pulled 10-38% above the proper pitch. You can see that this puts the strings at danger of breaking. If you couple this with the information from the last post about the higher tension near the piano tuning pin, you can see that the strings are significantly stressed when restoring the pitch to a piano that has not been tuned in a long period. It is much better to simply mark your calendar and tune the piano regularly, even if it is not being used. Our next post will discuss the stress to the soundboard of the piano, if the piano is not tuned regularly.

If you have a question about pianos, please let us know. We are your West Virginia piano tuning experts.