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/diy/ - Do It Yourself

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841004 No.841004 [Reply] [Original]

I'm thinking about tuning my piano myself.
Any tips? Which hammer/mutes do you recommend?

>> No.841012

>Any tips?
Dont go crazy

>> No.841014

>>841004
when you get tired of fucking up a piano... pay someone to professionally tune it and ask as many questions and watch as closely as they'll let you...

be humble..

>> No.841019

>>841014
Not OP
The last time I paid somebody to tune my piano he came over with an iPhone and over-ear headphones. Plugged the latter into the iPhone, started an application, and the job was done 30 minutes and $130 later.
I don't think piano tuning is something that requires finesse or a great amount of skill, just the ability to learn from books and apply what you read.

>> No.841022

>>841019
An issue might be that it's incredibly easy to damage piano tuners: they're not designed to be easy or reliable, they're designed to be as cheap as possible, because there's 264 of them.

>> No.841027

>>841019
did you ask him what the app was? might start there...

>> No.841030

>Audacity
>Generate tone
>Frequency

>> No.841032

>>841022
Duly noted, thanks.
>>841027
I didn't, but a cursory search reveals that it was probably 'TuneLab Piano Tuner' (which is $300 but easily downloaded from third-parties) or 'Tuner'.
Both seem pretty easy to operate and the tools are easy to get a hold of.

>> No.841037

>>841004
Cleartune is a great app. There's a mic based tuner for getting into the correct note range, and a tone generator for beat tuning. The interface is very well thought out and has many good features. A set of felt wedges and a tuning wrench like OP's pic related are a must. A couple of felt or microfiber cloths are handy as well, for protecting and dampening groups of strings.

If you want the rolls royce of tuners, get a strobe tuner. They have wheels that spin at the frequency you want to tune to, and they flash at the frequency of the instrument being tuned. The wheel will appear motionless when the tuning is correct.

>> No.841049

>>841022
>tuners
Do you mean strings?

>> No.841054

>>841049
no. pretty sure in this context he's referring to the tuning pegs that the strings wrap around...

>> No.841631

I ill advise you to do this. If you insist to proceed, you should only tune the central octave with a tuner. Then, through ear comparison with that octave (that's why you call someone with decades of experience), you should tune every other string, the lower ones a bit , the higher ones a bit #

keep in mind you must reach unison with 3 strings at the time with almost every note (lower octave excluded)

Overall, it's probably better if you just call someone and give him 60 bucks

>> No.841635

>>841631
>the lower ones a bit ,
(there was a flat symbol there)

>> No.841651

>>841631
>Overall, it's probably better if you just call someone and give him 60 bucks

Generally, anyone who doesn't already have someone tune their piano has a piano that isn't worth having someone else tune. I got mine (a cheap console piano) for free off my grandmother who got it for like $25 at a thrift shop. It's barely worth what I paid for the tuning wrench, nevermind repeat visits from a professional tuner.

I'd hazard a guess that OP is in a similar situation.

>> No.841662

Tuning a piano is not like tuning a guitar. You don't have to accord strings with a perfect standard 440. For a good work you have to tune with a tuner only 12 strings, one for each note of the central octave, then you have to set up the whole pack of strings together during a "long" trial and error process. You are supposed to listen to the beat between harmonics of pair of strings from different notes until they sound good together.

All this work is needed to smooth the sharpness of the equal temperament. It's really complex and you can end up with a terrible mess.

and this is only the acoustic part of the work, without take care about mechanical troubles.


Really, if your piano worth more than 100 bucks don't try to tune it. A bad tuning could affect your hears if you are still a student.

>> No.841702

>>841004
A 4 1 5
4
1
5

>> No.842063

>OP here
>>841631
I play the trumpet and write some. I already have a decent ear.
>>841662
I think piano tuning could be a really neat-o skill to hone. Even if I'm terrible my first time, I'll get better and won't have to pay some guy to do it for me.
>>841702
What are the advantages, though?
>>841651
funny story, actually. I'm 18, so I still live with my folks.
One day, while my mom was away on business, my dad decided to be a spontaneous, romantic husband and surprise her.
So my mom gets back, wondering why their bank account was $5000 lighter. She walks into the living room, only to find the answer.
None of us can play the piano. To this day, I don't know why my dad thought it was a good idea to get one.

>> No.842075

>>841662
Why can't you take a piano that does sound good, and copy its tuning precisely?

Surely modern computers are up to the job?

>> No.842079
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842079

>>842063
>So my mom gets back, wondering why their bank account was $5000 lighter.
>None of us can play the piano

>> No.842088

>>842063
If there's no other musicians around who will be offended by your noob tuning, go for it.

>> No.842535

tips :
read about tuning, it is an art. be Zen while tuning.
Use your tuning hammer acuratelly and very soft. you have to train your hand muscles to begin with. Start by using something like APtuner to set the temperament in one or two octaves. then tune by perfect octave up an down the keyboard. train your ears

>> No.842646

>>842535
Thanks. Good words.