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Call or text Nathan to schedule a tuning at 214-934-3916
Basic Tuning Service
How much does my service cost?: $250 (includes sales tax)
What does the tuning service include?: A basic service takes approximately 2 hours, and includes major pitch adjustments, fine tuning, pedal adjustments, and minor action adjustments (correcting a few sticking or sluggish keys). I do not charge extra for major pitch adjustments, even if the piano has not been serviced in several years.
If your piano is 5 or more cents flat, a "pitch raise" will be performed. If the piano is 5 or more cents flat and only a single pass thru tuning is performed, the piano will not sound nearly as satisfying as it could. If it has been several years since the pianos was last tuned, a pitch raise is likely necessary. Just like when you tune your guitar; if the instrument is severely out of tune and you only tune each string once, it probably will not sound quite as nice as if you go through it twice. This is because the soundboard (or top on a guitar) flexes a lot with a dramatic change in pitch and string tension. A pitch raise is free for all customers. Sometimes up to an extra hour is required if the piano is severely flat and requires much additional tuning time. I will stay until the piano is at pitch, and the price will remain the same, though a tip is always appreciated. ♪~ ᕕ(ᐛ)ᕗ
For an additional $25, grand piano customers can request a thorough, under-string soundboard cleaning prior to the tuning service (adds an extra 10 minutes). Some uprights may require cleaning as well, and customers may request cleaning for the same fee.
Tuning a piano requires a great amount of patience. Each of the 250 or so strings on the instrument must be properly pulled to the correct tension in order to sound the way that the average ear calls "in tune". Once these strings are brought to the correct tension, the tuning pins which hold the strings must be correctly positioned in the pinblock to maintain that exact tension. Even if the pin shifts a slight amount, this can mean that the string will have to be retuned so that the interval will sound acceptable. There are several historical tuning methods which result in varied spacings between notes up and down the keyboard, but the most commonly used method today is called "equal temperament". This method results in all notes having an identical amount of space between them and their neighboring notes - at least, that's the goal. Depending on a piano's size and stringing design and string length, the tuning result will be different from other pianos. After setting the middle octave of the piano and all of its 11 inner notes (called the temperament octave) to sound correct, the technician will proceed to tune octaves up an down the piano while carefully checking and testing other intervals along the way to ensure a smooth progression of intervals up and down the keyboard. The size of a piano, and the amount of inharmonicity it its strings (determined by the length, thickness, and tension on those strings) play a big part in the quality of the sound of the final tuning. Because of inharmonicity and scaling differences, the tuning of a small spinet piano cannot be precisely matched to a piano of a larger size all the way up and down its scale.
The tuning of Rhodes electric pianos does not take into account the issue of inharmonicity, as these pianos do not have strings. Other issues exist in Rhodes that can cause the owner with a discerning ear to question the tuning of lower bass notes. Longer tines, as are found in the lower portion of these pianos, are subject to a aural phenomenon identical in effect to the Doppler Effect when a note is sustained. Immediately upon the hammer's strike, a tine has a much wider path of motion than several seconds afterward, while sustained. As the note continues to sustain, the tine comes overall into a closer proximity to the pickup and tends to sound sharper in pitch.
What does the tuning service include?: A basic service takes approximately 2 hours, and includes major pitch adjustments, fine tuning, pedal adjustments, and minor action adjustments (correcting a few sticking or sluggish keys). I do not charge extra for major pitch adjustments, even if the piano has not been serviced in several years.
If your piano is 5 or more cents flat, a "pitch raise" will be performed. If the piano is 5 or more cents flat and only a single pass thru tuning is performed, the piano will not sound nearly as satisfying as it could. If it has been several years since the pianos was last tuned, a pitch raise is likely necessary. Just like when you tune your guitar; if the instrument is severely out of tune and you only tune each string once, it probably will not sound quite as nice as if you go through it twice. This is because the soundboard (or top on a guitar) flexes a lot with a dramatic change in pitch and string tension. A pitch raise is free for all customers. Sometimes up to an extra hour is required if the piano is severely flat and requires much additional tuning time. I will stay until the piano is at pitch, and the price will remain the same, though a tip is always appreciated. ♪~ ᕕ(ᐛ)ᕗ
For an additional $25, grand piano customers can request a thorough, under-string soundboard cleaning prior to the tuning service (adds an extra 10 minutes). Some uprights may require cleaning as well, and customers may request cleaning for the same fee.
Tuning a piano requires a great amount of patience. Each of the 250 or so strings on the instrument must be properly pulled to the correct tension in order to sound the way that the average ear calls "in tune". Once these strings are brought to the correct tension, the tuning pins which hold the strings must be correctly positioned in the pinblock to maintain that exact tension. Even if the pin shifts a slight amount, this can mean that the string will have to be retuned so that the interval will sound acceptable. There are several historical tuning methods which result in varied spacings between notes up and down the keyboard, but the most commonly used method today is called "equal temperament". This method results in all notes having an identical amount of space between them and their neighboring notes - at least, that's the goal. Depending on a piano's size and stringing design and string length, the tuning result will be different from other pianos. After setting the middle octave of the piano and all of its 11 inner notes (called the temperament octave) to sound correct, the technician will proceed to tune octaves up an down the piano while carefully checking and testing other intervals along the way to ensure a smooth progression of intervals up and down the keyboard. The size of a piano, and the amount of inharmonicity it its strings (determined by the length, thickness, and tension on those strings) play a big part in the quality of the sound of the final tuning. Because of inharmonicity and scaling differences, the tuning of a small spinet piano cannot be precisely matched to a piano of a larger size all the way up and down its scale.
The tuning of Rhodes electric pianos does not take into account the issue of inharmonicity, as these pianos do not have strings. Other issues exist in Rhodes that can cause the owner with a discerning ear to question the tuning of lower bass notes. Longer tines, as are found in the lower portion of these pianos, are subject to a aural phenomenon identical in effect to the Doppler Effect when a note is sustained. Immediately upon the hammer's strike, a tine has a much wider path of motion than several seconds afterward, while sustained. As the note continues to sustain, the tine comes overall into a closer proximity to the pickup and tends to sound sharper in pitch.