This is the piano I am about to tune for you. As you can see, this not a priceless Steinway. It's actually a small spinet, lacking two octaves. When I decided to tune this piano myself, I could find very little practical information. What information I did find was not written for the amateur, and took great pains to tell me piano tuning was not something I should try myself. So, I bought some tools and figured it out for myself. This web page is my effort to share what I learned with you. Actually, this is a pictorial version of our more-detailed companion website on the subject of piano tuning.

Disclaimers. Piano tuning is not as easy as it looks, and done wrong can damage the piano. Start with something that is not precious. If it is precious, or you need perfection, call a professional tuner. The simple method here can help you fix some sour notes, or get you by until a professional is available, but it will not match an experienced tuner. The skills needed to consistently get good results take many years to develop. Even so, tuning your own piano can be an enjoyable way to learn more about this fascinating instrument. Be careful in there!

This site has three sections:

1. 1.Tools Needed for Piano Tuning
   

2. 2.Step-by-Step Simplified Piano Tuning Procedure
   

3. 3.Where to go for More Information

Tools

You cannot tune a piano without a few basic, specialized tools. At minimum, you will need to purchase three things:

1. 1.A tuning lever or "tuning hammer"
   

2. 2.Several rubber tuning mutes
   

3. 3.An electronic chromatic tuner
   

Lets look at each in turn.

Tool One: The Tuning Lever

Also called a "tuning hammer," a tuning lever is special tool made just for tuning pianos. Do NOT attempt to substitute with socket wrench or other makeshift set-up. Proper tuning needs a delicate touch and a secure hold on the pin. Without both of these, at best you will have a poor tuning result, and at worst you can permanently damage the pin or the piano.

This is not a place to save money on some cheap tool. Find a real piano supply house to purchase a quality lever. A poorly made tuning lever is nearly as bad as a socket wrench. It will frustrate you at best, and permanently damage the piano at worst. A good lever will start in the $40 range.

Note the 8-point "star" socket. This fits the square head perfectly and at multiple angles. You want the tool at just the right angle at all times so that you can apply the fine touch needed anywhere in the tight quarters of the piano cabinet. Most pianos made for the American market use the #2 sized head. Pianos made in or for other countries may use other sizes. Consult your piano tool supplier for advice if you are not sure.

Better hammers come with interchangeable heads or tips, in case you have an odd size pin or need a longer or shorter head to fit in the cabinet. If you size it right for one piano, you can get by with one head, but it never hurts to keep your options open. The fact that it is interchangeable is a clue that it is a professional tool. Additional heads or tips can be purchased as needed. I use pianosupplies.com. NOTE: If you purchase a lever with interchangeable tips, be certain to purchase a tip wrench as well to properly tighten the tip. If you do not use a tip wrench, the tip is likely to unscrew while attempting to turn a pin. The wrench pictured in this tutorial has an interchangeable heads that have fixed tips.

Tool Two: Tuning Mutes

These rubber wedges fit between the strings to silences the ones you are not working on. Very inexpensive, don't waste time trying to rig a substitute. Get several sizes and shapes because string size and position varies within any single piano. Buy them where you get your lever. I use pianosupplies.com. If desired, you can purchase a kit that has a tuning lever and a selection of mutes.

Tool Three: Chromatic Electronic Tuner

You will need some sort of external tuning reference. Some pros use a tuning fork; others use expensive electronic piano tuners specially designed for pianos. We're going to use a simple pocket tuner. It won't be as accurate as a true electronic piano tuner, but it will work well enough for our purposes. At $20 or so, the model shown, a Korg CA-30, is about the cheapest model that will work. The Korg CA-40 is similar but has a larger display. It needs to be chromatic; a plain guitar tuner is not enough. The LCD needle on these can be hard to follow. For physical needle, and a greater range, there is the Korg OT-120 Orchestral Tuner, though is more expensive. There are a variety of brands, styles and prices. A professional who tunes by ear will use a fork for the A (=440Hz) above middle C, and tune everything else using this A as a reference.)

Piano Tuning Step Four:

Tune the Other Strings to the First String by Ear

Remove the mute from one of the other strings in the set for that note. Put aside the electronic tuner, and use your ear to match the untuned string to the string you just tuned. Repeat for the third string, if necessary, unmuting them all, so that the third string matches the first two. Why no electronic tuner? Because hearing the match is more accurate than trying to adjust that pesky bouncing needle tuner.

Repeat steps One to Four for entire middle octave.

Tuning the Piano

Preparation

Now that we have the tools gathered, it's time to tune. Open the piano cabinet so that you can work. Make sure you have good light, as well.

You may want to remove a few extra pieces in addition to just opening the top. It lets more light in. It also makes it easier to follow which key is working which string. These pieces are easily removed, but often require a screwdriver.

I've opened up my piano completely, and the lever is in place on the first pin. You can see I have removed all the cabinet down to the tops of the keys. Again, you don't have to go this far, but it can be helpful.

Piano Tuning Step Three:

Tune the First String Using the Tuner

Time to tune. Silence the room; any extraneous note, even a motor, will be picked up by the electronic tuner. With one hand on the lever, one finger on the key, and one eye on the electronic tuner, strike a key firmly. Move the lever very, very slightly while striking the key firmly over and over. Turn the pin clockwise to raise the pitch, counter-clockwise to lower it. ("Righty tighty, lefty loosey!") I want the needle on the tuner to be as close to the middle as possible. Minimal pin movement is important; too much wiggling can loosen the pin so that it will not hold. Loose pins need professional repair, and too many may make it irreparable. Do not overwork the pin!

It's also possible to break a string. It can happen if over-tightened, but on an old piano perhaps the string was weak. It is a common repair, but beyond this tutorial. There are books on piano repair, or call a pro.

It's difficult to get the needle dead on. I usually err a little to the sharp if in doubt, as my piano usually goes flat. Also, this little Korg does not "hear" notes well outside of the middle octaves. A professional tuner's electronic tuner will not have this problem. (For a greater range than the CA-30, but a significantly lesser price than a pro tuner, consider the Korg OT-120.) The lack of range outside the middle octave is not really a problem, as explained below. Alternatively, the Korg can play the tone for you, and you can match by ear.

A professional tuner will tune the upper octaves increasingly sharp and lower octaves increasingly flat. This is known as stretching the octaves, and produces well temperament, a sound more pleasing to the ear than tuning to pure "equal" temperament, which would ideally follow a pure mathematical progression. This is because error is introduced by the physical differences between strings (e.g., the fat lower strings react differently to being struck than the thin, short, upper strings.) A professional's electronic tuner will make this adjustment for you, but tuning by ear will achieve the same result. This and the limitations of our electronic tuner are why the next tuning steps will rely on the ear rather than the electronic tuner.

Piano Tuning Step One:

Find the String

First, identify which string to tune. Always start with the keys in the middle octave. Most notes except the very lowest ones will have two or three strings per note. My little piano only has two in the this octave, but it's more common to have three. Press the key, see which hammer moves, then trace the string up to its corresponding pin.

Piano Tuning Step Two:

Mute Remaining String(s)

After selecting the string to tune first, mute the other string(s) in the set for that note. Wedge a rubber mute between the string to be muted and the soundboard or the next string over.

Only two strings here on my piano. The mutes have been removed to tune the second string

Piano Tuning Step Five:

Tune the Octaves

Once you have the first octave tuned in this manner, use it as a reference octave for the rest of the piano. Use your ear, rather than the electronic tuner, to tune these notes. As before, start with one string in the set, tune it to the matching note in the reference octave, then tune the remaining strings in the set to the first string tuned in the set. Work your way up and down the piano, tuning a high note or two then a low note or two to adjust the tension on the soundboard evenly.

Working a lower octave, striking the reference note in the middle octave and the new octave simultaneously.

Only small movements should be needed. Precise tuning is a delicate affair.

"Star" socket allows firm grip at many possible positions.

Detachable head to change to different socket sizes or different length heads.

Notice the angle. This a matter of preference, but I find a near-right angle gives better control than a shallower "gooseneck" bend.

Now What?

This a bare-bones presentation on tuning. There is much more to learn! If you would like more tips on tuning your own piano using the simplified method given here, please visit our first site, piano.detwiler.us. You will find our favorite links to other on-line resources as well.

For a quick reference on some piano tuning terms, visit our Piano Tuning FAQ.

If you would like to explore tuning in depth, then you might like to try these well-regarded books:

The tuner is indicating that the G# is in tune.

I have recorded a 100k mp3 file demonstrating the matching of two strings. Note how the "beats" disappear when in tune. Also note that in order to demonstrate, I move the pin much more than you should!

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