I’ve just been reminded by a Sheffield customer to write another piano tuning post on pitch raising out of tune pianos. Let me briefly explain the options:

If your piano hasn’t been tuned it over a year it may probably be a quater of a semitone (or more) flat. To get it back up to concert pitch a piano tuner has to tune the whole piano 7 cents sharp of concert pitch so that by the time the piano tuning is finished the piano will have slipped back close to concert pitch (but will still be a bit out of tune). Then the piano tuner fine tunes the piano to get it nicely in tune with itself, starting on middle C.

If you’re someone who only plays solo and owns an aged piano that’s well past its prime, a standard tuning is a better option. Pianos that are very old are less stable and raising the pitch too much will add too much tension for it to bear, and the whole thing will slip back out of tune almost immediately. Tuning it to itself is the best way for it to stay in tune and stay sounding as good as it can.

Whereas I charge £50 (£40 if you’re my first customer) for a standard tuning (where I tune the piano to itself starting with middle C) I charge £60 for a pitch raise. A full pitch raise effectively means I have to tune the piano twice which adds an hour onto the job.

– Richard, Piano Tuner Sheffield