Alison Saylor

• Twice a year on average if your piano is new. The strings will stretch rapidly during the first 5-7 years and cause the piano to go out of tune quickly.
• In the San Francisco Bay Area where the temperatures do not fluctuate as much, pianos generally need to be tuned only once a year.
• Frequently if you have a very sensitive ear or play like Jerry Lee Lewis.
• Every time the piano is moved. You should also let the piano rest for two weeks after moving before having it tuned.

The piano will need to be opened, so everything on top needs to be removed. Make sure the tuning is scheduled for a time when the house or business is quiet. I tune mostly by ear, so any noise is distracting and may lessen the quality of the tuning.

Yes. Pianos go out of tune from the passage of time, not from being played frequently.

• Against an inside wall, if at all possible. A piano stored against an outside wall is more vulnerable to changes in climate.
• AWAY from forced air vents and heaters. These will dry and crack the small wooden parts inside your piano.
• AWAY from air conditioners.
• AWAY from humidifiers, fish tanks, or any source of moisture.
• Try to avoid direct sunlight.

here are a few ways:

• Tack or drape a rug or some heavy cloth over the back of your piano.
• Install a muffler rail, which is a bar with a strip of felt glued to it. It comes between the hammer and the strings and lowers the volume without changing the touch. You can raise (turn it off) or lower it (on).
• The felt on the tips of the hammers can harden with lots of use. Remove the compacted external felt, leaving the soft felt to strike the strings.

Even a beautiful piano with intricate engraving can be less musical than an old gym sock. Here are some things to consider when buying a used piano:

• Try every key on the keyboard. A few dead keys can be fixed easily, but a dozen or more duds can mean lots of repair work.
• Where has the piano been stored? If it is in the basement, the patio, or the garage, there may be extensive moisture damage.
• Bring an electronic tuner with you. If the piano is consistently 10 cents or more flat (from A=440), it may be unable to hold a tuning.
• Look inside at the wood, particularly around the pins that the strings wind around. If the wood is cracked, the piano will probably not be tunable.
• Don't worry about chipped or missing key tops, it is easy to replace them, and it is not necessarily reflective of the state of the internal workings of the piano.
• Look at the strings. Are they silver (treble) and copper (bass) or are they reddish and rusted? Rusted strings need to be replaced, but also indicate exposure to moisture, which inflicts damage upon the wooden parts of the piano as well.
• Best way to avoid buying a lemon - bring a piano expert with you to do an appraisal!

Keys usually stick because:

• Excessive humidity has caused swelling on the key's hinges.
• Objects or critters that don't belong inside the piano are present.
• One of the moving parts has broken or has shifted out of place.

Whatever the case, most keys can be fixed easily.

Yes, quite easily. Ivory, however, is no longer available in the U.S. This makes the elephants happy! The ivory I have on hand is from key top sets I have replaced. Matching the color of your ivory keys is unlikely, however. Most people don't mind having a few keys slightly off color, but if you need all the keys to match, plastic key tops are the way to go.

That depends on where the crack is. Usually, cracks will create buzzes, which can be eliminated, but if the crack is along the bridge line, there could be some more serious problems. The cracks themselves can be repaired if the piano is restrung.

Mice and moths love to live in pianos, since they are both a source of food and nesting material. Good for them... bad for your piano. Moths will eat the felt on the hammers and under your keys. Get some mothballs. Mice pee on your strings, which causes rust. They also chew up your wooden keys and use your felt to make nests. The best way to keep them away is frequent practicing. Mice hate loud noises! You can also use a humane and safe method of pest control.

The easiest, most reliable way to do this is to install a piano dehumidifier, which will ward off swelling hinges (and stuck keys) and rusted strings (buzzing). These devices maintain an ideal climate inside your piano year-round.

With a soft, slightly damp cloth. Try a bit of lemon oil on the cloth.

A piano left untuned for many years may require a pitch raising. This is a process that stretches each string beyond standard pitch. When the strings settle, they should be able to hold a tuning.

Standard pitch is where the A below middle C is tuned to 440hz. It is a generally agreed-upon standard for tuning all instruments. If you plan on playing along with recordings or other instruments, having your piano tuned to standard pitch is a good idea.