How to Tune Pianos as a Career

Inside a piano

If you love music, already play the piano fairly well, and have some mechanical skill, you can teach yourself to tune pianos for a living with a little concerted effort. It takes about 3 hours to tune a piano, even with specialized software. Piano-tuning software is not intended to speed up the process by very much, but it can greatly improve the accuracy of the tuning, giving the instrument the best sound possible. The software listens to each piano key as you press it, and tells you the exact percentage by which to adjust each string and put the whole instrument into perfect tune.

A piano has 88 keys, each with one to four strings. The strings are longest in the lower octaves. The keys below low A or thereabouts have one string, and from about low A to middle A, two strings. Above middle A, three or even four strings are used. The exact spot where the change occurs varies with different instruments. Where more than one string is on a key, each one needs to be tuned to match the other string(s) as closely as possible to produce the proper harmonic.

Things You'll Need

• Laptop computer or Pocket PC with sound card Power adapter Microphone Piano-tuning software (likeTune!It) Tuning hammer (wrench) Portable vacuum cleaner Furniture polish Sponge Bucket

Instructions

Play the Piano

1. Learn to play a few moderately difficult piano pieces reasonably well.

2. When you've mastered a few of these, learn other pieces in different styles. Continue practicing.

3. Make or buy business cards advertising your computer-verified piano tuning services, but don't start giving them out just yet.

Tune a Few Pianos

1. 

   Purchase a tuning hammer. Install a microphone and piano-tuning software (such as the shareware program Tune!It) on your computer. If you're lucky enough to have your own piano, tune it now.

2. Tune the entire instrument--not randomly, but following a consistent pattern and playing scales often to check your work. Tune every key on the piano, from highest to lowest or lowest to highest. Going note by note, octave by octave, is another method of piano tuning: You tune the highest A first, then the next highest, on down to the lowest A. Then you do all the B notes, then the C notes, and so on. Experiment with the different methods. If a note still doesn't sound right, you'll need to go back in with the tuning hammer and re-tighten the string.

3. Ask friends, schools and church officials or the owners of local antique shops for permission to tune their pianos at no cost to them, and as a learning experience for you.

4. Clean up any marks on the wood with the furniture polish you brought with you.

5. Play a song or two, so the owner can appreciate how different the piano sounds now that it's back in tune.

6. Give the owner one of your new business cards. Ask him to call you in 3 months, or sooner if the piano is moved--even to the other side of the room.

Set Up Your Business

1. If it's required where you live, obtain a license to conduct business as a piano tuner under the name on your business card.

2. Set the flat rate you will charge to tune a piano. Decide if you'll perform additional work, such as repairs, and at what rate.

3. Decide how far you are willing to travel to a job and how much you'll charge for mileage and travel time.

4. To get clients, ask permission to place your business card in local piano stores; or set up a simple, 1-page website containing your basic qualifications and contact information.

Tips & Warnings

• If you're using piano-tuning software, you won't need a tuning fork. Don't try to hurry the process of tuning a piano. Allow the full 3 hours. It can take even longer if the piano has been out of tune for many years. A piano should always be tuned after it has been moved. Even a spinet weighs hundreds of pounds and tends to settle into place wherever it sits. Especially in an older building with wooden beams, which are susceptible to expansion and contraction depending on humidity, the stresses on the framework of the instrument may be quite different from one part of the floor to another. This is less of a concern in a new building with concrete floors.

• Dust collects inside of pianos, even those that are played often. That's why you need to take a small portable vacuum cleaner with you to the job and vacuum the piano before you start tuning it. If you're prone to respiratory conditions, piano tuning probably would not be a good career choice for you.

Resources

• Tune!It shareware program
• K.S. Piano-tuning tools