How to tune a piano. Do it yourself.

How to tune your piano amateur style. Save $150 now and continue to save forever once you can do it yourself. It is not that hard to do. Tuning apps are free for iPods / iPhones. I used garage band. You can use an allen wrench in the socket if you you don't have a hex head socket. Mine is a 9/32 I had for a Ford rear end. Tuning hammers are on Amazon for 20 bucks and often come with a mute (probably better than cardboard). I still do not know how to tuna fish.

[emilynoblet]

Brue, after reading all of the professional comments on your video naysaying the virtues of "DIYing" the tuning of your piano, I want you to know I really appreciate you making this video. If I don't know how to do something, whether its tuning a piano, rebuilding a carburetor, or cooking beef wellington, I want to at least try to learn a way to do it so I can say I gave it a shot. If you have an expensive piano, you're probably not worried about paying for it to be tuned. If you're like a lot of us with limited funds, you take satisfaction in being able to take something that somebody threw away or gave up on, and make it functional again, for minimal monetary input. Its not about the right or wrong way.Its about using your own brain and hands to create or fix something, YOURSELF. Thanks!
BTW, just picked up a 70's Wurlitzer. Planning on tuning it up Myself as soon as it acclimates to my houses temp and humidity.

[deathatlantic]

"Gotta tune this piano so my daughter can learn to play. Might as well teach everyone on the internet how to do it while I'm at it."
Wholesome.

[GarbleMcNipchips]

Will this work without a piano? I just realized I don't even have one. Weird end of youtube again.

[martymcgill]

I don't know what all you haters see, but I see a man making a memory that a child will carry with her forever. Who cares if he's not following protocol ... it's his piano.

[SplinteredCompany]

Seems easier to tune than a Floyd Rose.

[kdavidicus]

Props to this guy for giving it a go. I'm a professional tuner and have been for about a decade. I would say that if people want to give this a try and save some money, invest in the proper tools. The chances of ruining the instrument drop greatly if you just use a proper tuning hammer.

[sawyerbergeron]

As a fellow DIY piano restorer, there are definitely a couple things you didn't necessarily approach in the best way if you want the instrument to survive more than a few tunings and sound "right" at the higher and lower ends up the keyboard, though I do commend your dedication to the project and hope you continue to work on it.

First thing is an actual tuning hammer can be had for fairly cheap. Even a 30 dollar one will be OK if you aren't worried about doing things quickly (got a 70 dollar hammer just because I'm a stickler for getting unisons right.) A socket wrench will be able to get it into the ballpark for single strings, but it will eventually strip the pins or get stuck and pull one out when trying to get the socket off. A socket wrench also isn't that stiff, and will have a tendency to spring past a target pitch.

Also, a chromatic tuner doesn't really account for inharmonicity. A piece of software I've found works amazingly well is Entropy Piano Tuner. It's free, and if you have an OK mic somewhere or can borrow one from a friend it works quite well. I restored, tuned, and did some light voicing to the piano that I used for my latest two recordings on my YouTube channel actually. Without actually going into inharmonicity, how partials work for steel string instruments, or how different harmonics or partials are emphasized within a piano casing, just understand there is more to tuning an instrument with as much pitch range as a piano than a guitar, and more complexity to tuning steel strings than nylon or hair/fiber based strings.

When tuning unisons, it almost works best to ignore the tuner you used to set the reference pitch and to just listen and try to reduce beating in the note. A purpose-built tuning hammer helps a ton here, and having that pure tone brought out, especially if you get to the point of changing the actual tone of the note and where in its decay it resolves, is an amazing experience having that kind of control. In tuning my piano I often aim not to have the smoothest decay and cleanest attack, but a certain edge to the sound that resolves about a quarter of a second into the decay and just keeps growing after that.

There are definitely some pretentious piano tuners, but also many who very deeply value their craft and the pianos they work with, and understand the headaches you will probably have if you continue with the methods in the video. Personally, I cringe most at the socket wrench because a stripped pin, cracked pinboard, or even cracked place depending on circumstances can be far worse than a broken string (strings are easily replaced, ) and are fairly easily avoided with a purpose built tool that isn't all that expensive. I hope things work out well for you in the future in maintaining that piano, as it looks to be in otherwise not bad shape. The hammers are all in decent shape, and I'm not hearing anything in the video that would suggest cracked bridges/soundboard, along with fairly consistent tone from the hammers (they're at least all evenly voiced.) --But enough rambling (it is incredibly easy to get sucked into the fine details of the craft), carry on. I hope she has as much fun learning piano as I did growing up :)

[ErikBongers]

Sacrilegious to some, but a ratchet wrench and cardboard are clever alternative tools. But to those who are now eagerly scrambling their toolboxes: do.NOT.use.an.impact.driver. I repeat: do.NOT.

[thereelrosso]

Man thank you so much. Every one else just shoves felt in and doesn't explain EACH string must be tuned. Thank you!!!!

[gerrie]

i have successfully tuned my piano 3 time in the last 10 years, thank you

[wilmvanvelsen]

He is a hero, and so nice to his little daughter!! The first time we need to be brave to enter a new world. His DAUGHTER IS ADMIRING HIM and we can only criticize, of course a real piano tuner can do the job, really good, but this man is a hero and he will learn it

[elmoquitopeluu]

i'm watching this. I don't play piano. It's 1 am

[jbuzz]

Hi Brue. First time watching this. I’ve been a piano tuner for 47 years and have tuned in some of the best concert halls for some of the most well known pianists in the world. I say… Bravo! This is how I started off many years ago. Yes, there are many things a professional could show you to make it easier and safer, but at least you’re experimenting and learning! I’d love to hear the end results, if you try it again. Soon I will have a video out on piano tuning for DIYers called “First, do no harm”. In 5-10 minutes a person like yourself could learn a few things that may save you a lot of time and money. Yes, it takes a long time to become a concert tuner/technician, but you’ll never know what’s involved until you try it. Did you try it again? Was it harder than you thought? Were the end results satisfying to you? I have dozens of questions! Thanks! If you’re interested (I know it’s been years since this was posted) I’ll post my website.

[kintraks_software]

Great video for me, someone who knows nothing about piano tuning. I tried to give away my old piano but nobody would pay the removal fee so I decided to follow your video.
There is only a few keys that make it unplayable and following your video gave me the knowledge to get them close enough for the average ear.
Before I would cringe when a visitor opened the piano to play as I always had to a apologize because it was out of tune but now I'm happy to hear sweet music from it again.
Thanks for making my old piano useful again.

[dajvoo]

My father was a piano tuner and showed me how to tune a piano on several occasions. I should have watched when he muted the strings. I know it's easier to do that with the right equipment, I sorta of remember that. I'll be buying the wedges on ebay this week. Anyway, thank you for this video, it has encouraged me to follow in my dad's steps!

[yoonsuckz]

In about an hour my piano's going to be here in my home and it's out of tune. Your videos saved my life lmaoo thank you!!

[jaderxse]

"hit the g key"

*wHEN I WAS A YOUNG BOY*

[AverageHuman]

I'm am the proud new owner of my grandmother's old upright piano. Some of the keys were out of tune. I've been entertaining the idea of tuning this thing with my socket wrench for some time and went for it after watching your video. Thank you sir and best wishes to your daughter's music endeavors. -Cody, Killeen TX

[Nickauboutte]

Too bad some of the professionals commenting here have to be so condescending and so full of themselves. They are right, however, in pointing out that there is far more to a proper tuning than what’s shown on the clip. Still, I think it’s great that people like Brue take up the challenge and try to do it themselves, so what follows is meant to be informative and not as criticism (I used to tune semi-professionally in a previous incarnation).
It doesn’t take knowledge of a few facts usually known only to the initiated to tune a piano properly, but years of experience. A proper tuning is not a matter of getting each string to the right frequency, but making sure it stays there. This is achieved by means of hammer technique, a highly precise skill developed over years of practice which allows you to “set the pin”. This skill is not acquired by asking a few questions to your tuner as he works on your piano. His answers will provide you with some theoretical background info, nothing more. And unless you know how to do this your piano will start going out of tune as soon as you turn your back on it. If you have a good ear, you will be driven to “tune” your piano every week and this will drive you nuts.
But that’s just part of it. You also have to know what to listen to. It’s not a matter of checking a string’s frequency against some electronic “tuner” device. A tuner listens to and counts “beats’ between the frequencies that neighboring strings produce, and “sets the temperament”, meaning that he sets the relationship between intervals over an octave and that this relationship is then replicated over the entire instrument. In doing so he needs to be able to distinguish so-called “false beats”, which can make tuning a specific instrument very difficult. The ability to do all this is also honed over many years.
But there is no harm in people like Brue tuning their piano themselves. As they do it repeatedly, they will get better at it. One thing that shouldn’t be done is using a ratchet wrench on tuning pins. The upper end of the pin has four sides and they are tapered. Tuning hammers are made to fit this shape snugly and using a 6-side socket is a bit like using a pair of pliers instead of a properly fitting socket. to grab a nut. As pins are made using a relatively soft alloy to give them a little flexibility, the 6-side socket will ruin them. After tuning the piano a few times in this fashion, a regular tuning hammer won’t fit the pins anymore and the piano will need a repining job – a lengthy, tedious and costly affair. By all means, get the right tool for the job.
One last thing, of a pedagogical nature this time: If the little girl is seriously interested in playing the piano, I would suggest getting a professional tuning because this will definitely affect her playing experience. Sadly, I’ve seen badly tuned pianos discourage many gifted children from learning.

[DG-ssgc]

The main thing is you will try abs DIY, but without proper tools, fully tuning an entire piano with a socket wrench, cardboard and the Logic Pro tuner, i tired it at age 17, I did fine until I got to the upper registers, it became impossible. You need a special tuner and knowledge on how tuning one string throws off another, and how to get the proper temperament for your instrument. You can’t just make each string in tune with your guitar tuner plug in, trust me, it’s why Bach got such praise for his equal temperament tuning. It’s slightly of tune, and your have to calculate the inharmonicity of the particular instrument you are tuning to get what will sound best, otherwise the low notes don’t sound good with the high and chords get jacked up.

It’s fun to mess with an old piano you’ll either learn a lot or get frustrated and give up early. There are a few apps like PianoMeter that does all the calculations and has the strobe function for tuning the multiple stings if most the keys.

Good luck to anyone trying this out, just DONT do it with a prized piano, use a beater .