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Daily Piano Tips
Expert piano care advice from Melbourne's registered piano technicians. New tips published daily to keep your piano sounding its best.
The Case for Annual Piano Tuning
Tuning isn’t just about a single note being off. Regular tuning keeps three key issues in check: unisons (the three strings in a key align in pitch for a clear sound), overall pitch (humidity and temperature drift can shift the whole instrument), and harmony (true balance across keys). Schedule a professional tuning about once a year, especially if you move the piano, keep it in varying humidity, or play with others often. If it’s been neglected, expect one or two tunings to re-establish A440 and restore proper resonance. Pair tuning with humidity control and a stable room environment for best results.
Avoid showroom sound: pick a piano for home
Piano tone isn’t just about the instrument — room acoustics do a lot. In showrooms, large spaces add natural reverb, softening highs and boosting sustain, so almost any piano can sound impressive. The result can fool you into thinking a piano is better than it will be at home. Focus on three real tone factors: sustain (how long notes ring), richness (the attack’s complexity), and touch response (feel and dynamic range). When testing, compare in a room similar to your home: play your usual pieces, listen for home-room clues, and don’t rely on showroom hype. Test again at home before deciding.
After buying used pianos: plan tuning + regulation + voicing
When you buy a secondhand piano, don’t stop at tuning. A full service often includes regulation (adjusting keys, action, and touch) and voicing (tone color). Ask your tuner for a combined service quote rather than just a tuning price. Regulation can be time-consuming and varies by instrument, especially grand pianos with many adjustment steps. After a basic tuning, request a quick inspection for disfunction and a plan for regulation and voicing. Expect separate charges for tuning, regulation, and voicing, and budget accordingly. Properly coordinated tuning plus regulation and voicing yields even touch, even tone, and easier playability from day one.
Wake Up Your Piano: The Power of Full Setup
Tuning alone isn’t enough. A true pre-delivery setup includes action regulation, keyboard leveling, hammer–string mating, voicing, pedal regulation, and a final concert-level tuning after settling. Without these, uprights and especially grands don’t reveal their real personality. When properly regulated, tiny gestures translate into distinct colors and dynamics, making tones bloom or bite instead of staying flat. Before buying or accepting a piano, ask the dealer about regulator steps and voicing, then test touch and response across dynamics. A fully set up piano feels alive beneath your fingertips—like the strings are growing from your hands.
Unlock Your Piano's Real Potential: Regulation and Voicing
To get the full value of a piano, demand more than a quick tune. A true pre-delivery setup should include regulation and voicing, not just strings and keys. Expect multiple tunings initially, but know that the real progress comes from regulation—adjusting touch, consistency, and responsiveness—and from careful voicing to shape tone. Schedule a full-day session with a skilled technician, and ask for notes on what was adjusted and why. Don’t rely on factory sound alone; test by playing expressively and listening for even touch and beauty across registers.
Trust Your Ears: Aural Tuning Wins
Even with precise machines, aural tuning remains unbeatable when evaluating piano tone. Focus on listening tests and real-world harmony rather than purely automated metrics. Check intervals like fifths and fourths by ear, since machines can produce smooth curves that sound wrong in context. Listen across registers, measure beat rates between string pairs, and verify that the overall stretch serves the keyboard, not just the tuning graph. Treat tuning as a relational task: small adjustments in one note affect neighbors. Document what you change and recheck in different tempos and dynamics for a stable, musical result.
Grand pianos and a pro’s eye: buying tips
When buying, don’t rely on brand alone. A piano’s real quality comes from how it’s regulated, voiced, and prepared by a skilled technician. Prefer a grand if possible, because its action and sound respond more consistently to regulation. Bring a trusted piano technician or bring in one for a pre-purchase assessment. Have them check the touch across the keyboard, the consistency of tone, pedal response, and the instrument’s ability to stay in tune as you practice at different dynamics. Look beyond “out of the box” sound—ask to hear and feel how the piano responds after a thorough regulation and voicing session.