Standard piano tuning verses a pitch raise – what’s the difference?

Sometimes a piano that has not been tuned in many years with require a bit of extra work to make sure it settles at concert pitch (A440). While a standard piano tuning is £50 for Sheffield customers and takes sixty to ninety minutes to complete, a pitch raise is £70 and usually takes two hours or more. The reason a pitch raise costs a little extra is because the piano is tuned twice – once slightly sharp so that when the wrest pins and the strings relax they flatten so that each note is roughly in tune. After that, the Sheffield piano tuner will perform a fine tuning to make sure the equal temperament, unisons and overall stability is at an extremely high standard. Due to the increased tension put on the piano, it must be tuned again fairly quickly (the Sheffield piano tuner recommends another tuning in three to six months, which will greatly aid the pianos stability). Pianos that have been tuned every six months eventually become so stable that each piano tuning is a ‘touch up’ rather than a full tuning.

Once the piano has been tuned, you will hear the Sheffield piano tuner playing a piece of music for a minute to test how well the piano plays on a musical level. After all, piano tuning and repairs are mechanical tasks, but having a piano that plays brilliantly is always the end goal.