Frequently Asked Questions
Q: I've just moved my piano to New Mexico. Will the dryness here damage it?A: Possibly; it depends. Sudden changes in humidity can damage pianos and anything else made of wood. Even though it's dry, the evaporative ("swamp") coolers we use here can quickly add a lot of moisture to the air. Cycling between wet and dry is particularly harmful. Pianos may sound better at a constant 45% relative humidity rather than a constant 15%. This is both because dry wood shrinks, causing less tension in the soundboard assembly, and because felt hammers change in characteristics such as resiliency with humidity.
Any brand new piano should be okay here; manufacturers typically dry wood down to a lower level than we get here. But if a piano has acclimated to a more humid climate for a year or two, an abrupt humidity change may in fact be harmful; wood cracks when it dries quickly. It's better if the change is slower. A way to avoid this is to use room humidifiers, or better still, to install a humidity control system right in the piano (see http://www.pianolifesaver.com). Contact me for more information on this.
Q: Does moving a piano throw it out of tune?
A: It's not the move, but the change of environment (humidity and temperature). When humidity changes, the piano will gradually adapt to it, taking at least three weeks to adjust to a new environment. You should wait that long before having it tuned.
Q: How often should a piano be tuned?
A: At least once a year. Depending on your piano's use, condition, environment and your preference, it might need tuning two or more times a year. New pianos need two to four tunings in the first year, as the strings stretch and the wood adapts to the pressure.
Q: Do pianos need tuning if they're not played much?
A: Yes. There's a tremendous amount of tension in a piano, which is gradually released over time, making pianos go flat. Each string typically has 150 pounds of pressure on it. With 220 strings in a typical piano (two and three strings per note on most notes), there's about sixteen tons of tension.
Q: Does it harm a piano not to tune it?
A: No, but if a technician sees it regularly, possible problems can be spotted early. If a piano hasn't been tuned for several years, it will need two or more tunings over a period of months to stabilize back at standard pitch.
For more information on piano care, please see PTG bulletins on piano care.
