This depends a great deal on the piano, the room it’s in, how much the piano is played, personal preference...but for good maintenance tuning a piano at least once a year is recommended.

Aside from playing, the main thing that puts pianos out of tune are the changes in humidity that occur as seasons change and central heating goes on and off. A yearly tuning is a good ‘reset’ which keeps the piano where it should be in terms of pitch and evens out any other issues.

This is the general adjustment and maintenance of the moving (and some non-moving) parts of the piano to ensure everything is working correctly and the piano feels and sounds as good as possible.

The amount of work needed to regulate a piano varies a great deal, from those that just need a few adjustments to those that require many hours of work or even days. Often on older pianos the condition of the piano hammers, dampers and other parts mean that perfection is a long way from achieveable - so it is a case of prioritising and doing the things that will actually make most difference to the piano/player. If I am suggesting any significant amount of regulation to a customer I always run through a few options to give an idea of what improvement can be expected. Of course many people like their pianos just the way they are!

Local tunings (in or near Shrewsbury) start from £60 for either an upright or a grand. This is based on a straightforward tuning where the piano is already roughly at/near to standard pitch (even if it sounds very ‘uneven’).

Sometimes the overall pitch of a piano can drift significantly lower over time and require what is called a ‘pitch raise’ - this is when the tuner pulls up the tension on the strings significantly (usually to just above standard pitch), then essentially starts again and fine-tunes the piano from there. It is a longer process which typically adds around £20 to the price.

I generally try to work within an hour of Shrewsbury, but can travel further for multiple tunings or in some other circumstances. Feel free to enquire and if it’s feasible for me to get out to you I will try my best to do so.

This can be a tricky subject. But the general rule is that pianos like a stable environment where the temperature and in particular the relative humidity of the air are both as steady or slowly changing as possible. Excessive humidity can cause the soundboard to swell and contract, knocking the piano out of tune; can cause rubbing and friction between keys and felt bushings causing sluggish touch and stuck notes; corrosion of strings, and many other problems. Dry conditions on the other hand may shrink the wrest-plank causing loose tuning pins; cause the soundboard to contract (which again puts the piano out of tune); glues to fail in the piano action or in structural areas - the list goes on. The worst possible scenario is an environment where the temperature and humidity fluctuate wildly between these extremes - for example, a piano that has been left in a damp garage then moved into a house in the middle of winter with the central heating on full (the driest time of year for the air in our houses). The ‘safe zone’ for pianos is 40-60% relative humidity, with 45-50% generally regarded as the best possible. You can keep an eye on the relative humidity by placing a hygrometer near your piano - good options can be found for around £10 with a ‘min/max’ reading to show fluctuations.

Of course in reality the environment around pianos and in our houses in general is always subtly changing, so perfect conditions are simply not possible. There are however some rules of thumb to keep your piano as happy as possible:

• position it as far as possible from heat sources such as radiators/log burners, or large windows where it will be exposed to a lot of sunlight

• have your piano against an interior wall rather than an exterior wall if you can - particularly if it is an upright

• whatever heating you have, try to be gentle with it in the room where your piano lives

• if you find that your room is prone to damp/dryness, try to monitor this with a hygrometer and adjust conditions accordingly. Ventilation, careful use of heating, adding a few plants to a room - there are many ways to make subtle changes to relative humidity but the key is to keep an eye on your hygrometer. Avoid big changes - subtle ones are always best. For example, a dehumidifier may seem a good choice for a very damp room, but used near the piano without due attention this could excessively dry the air and cause even worse damage - particularly if it doesn’t have a humidistat/hydrostat controlling it.

  Humidity control units do exist which are made specifically for pianos - these are generally regarded as quite effective, but can be expensive and are not a substitute for a carefully controlled, steady environment.

Unfortunately not. Many old pianos which have been neglected, exposed to a lot of dry/wet conditions over time, or have simply been played and tuned for a lifetime (or longer!) have deteriorated to the point where the wrestplank which holds the tuning pins is cracked or damaged, the bridges which bear the strings have come away from the structure of the piano, or any number of other major issues have arisen. In such cases the pins/bearing points will not hold, tunings will not be stable for any length of time and it is sadly the end of the road for the piano.

‍This is extremely important to bear in mind if you buy a piano privately, or even take on a free one. It’s terribly sad to visit a newly acquired piano which has hidden but terminal issues, which making tuning impossible.

Beware the dreaded second-hand piano that “Just needs tuning”! Most people know very little about the internals of pianos even if they have owned one for many years, and may good faith be giving a very inaccurate impression of what they are selling.

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