How Often Should a Piano Be Tuned?

Ask ten pianists how often a piano should be tuned and you will get a range of answers, but the standard advice is simple: twice a year for a piano in regular use, and once a year at an absolute minimum. Here is the reasoning behind that, and the situations where the answer changes.

Why pianos go out of tune at all

A piano holds its strings at a combined tension of around 18 tonnes, and those strings are stretched over a wooden soundboard that swells and shrinks as the seasons change. Even a piano that is never played will drift out of tune as your home warms up in winter and dries out or humidifies through the year. Playing accelerates the process, but the seasons drive it.

The standard schedule

For most family pianos, a tuning every six months keeps the instrument at pitch and sounding its best. Many of our customers settle into a rhythm of one tuning after the heating goes on in autumn and another after it goes off in spring, which matches the two big humidity swings of the British year. If the piano is played lightly, once a year can be enough, but leaving it longer is a false economy. A piano that drifts well below pitch needs extra work to bring back, which costs more than the tunings that were skipped.

When a piano needs tuning more often

Three situations call for extra attention. A brand new piano has fresh strings that are still stretching, so it needs more frequent tuning in its first couple of years. A piano that has just moved house needs a few weeks to settle into the temperature and humidity of its new room, then a tuning. And a piano that is played hard, by a serious student or a professional, will benefit from three or four tunings a year.

Signs your piano is overdue

You do not need a trained ear to spot the signs. Notes that sound sour or wavery, octaves that no longer ring cleanly, and a general dullness compared with how you remember the piano sounding are all signals. If you cannot remember when it was last tuned, it is overdue.

Tuning and the life of your piano

Regular tuning is not just about sound. It keeps the instrument at the tension it was designed for, and it puts an expert in front of your piano twice a year who will spot small problems before they become expensive ones. It is the single best thing you can do to protect the instrument, and it is a large part of why well-maintained pianos last as long as they do. We have written more about that in How long do pianos last?

If you are unsure where your piano stands, our frequently asked questions page covers tuning and care in more detail, or get in touch and we will happily point you towards a good tuner in your area.