It’s about the same as a 2-page letter —

► Definition of a Piano Maintenance Program.

It is a set of Piano Care Proceduresthat is based on:

•    Calendar dates,
•    on the type and quality of Piano involved,
•    on the expectations the users have for it,
•    on the kind of use it is expected to receive, as well as
•    on the place where is it located.

The Procedures involved could include:

• Tuning
• Regulating and Lubricating
• Voicing
• Maintenance of a Climate Control System
• Repairs that are necessary prior to being able to tune
• Recurring repairs when old parts fail

All such procedures are physical actions, and not related to turning knobs or switches like on electronic devices. The tune, the tone quality, pitch clarity, even volume and softness of piano tones are one and all dependent on the highly complex and purely physical adjustments of the procedures listed above that are appropriate for a particular piano “machine”.

A Piano Maintenance Program is the only route to finding out what a piano really sounds like, and also how well you as a pianist can play.

► Explanation of need for a Maintenance Program:

A Piano is a machine, and needs maintenance performed in a regular manner just like any other machine, such as an automobile, an airplane, a motorcycle, a boat, etc. Not only is it a machine, it has more working parts than most any other machine made. A simple home Upright Piano has around 10,000 parts, and a huge 9 to 10-foot Concert Grand Piano has over 12,000 parts — compare this to a jet airplane engine with only some 5000 parts!

The first miracle here is that with so many parts in its design, a piano requires such an extremely low amount of maintenance to work well compared to any other machine of such complexity.

The tragedy here is that the piano as a class usually gets almost no maintenance during its working life, because very, very few people understand that it does need a minimum amount of regular maintenance in order to hold up well.

The second miracle here is that even though a piano as a class never gets much maintenance, the piano as a machine just keeps trudging on through life and still survives for decades, often more than a century with nothing more than neglect for a reward.

The big surprise here for new piano owners is when they discover that a piano is actually a machine, in fact, a physical machine — and not related at all to a plug-in stereo or an electronic keyboard, and that their new machine has to be maintained throughout its life! In our high-tech culture of today, we are not educated to understand physical machines. We understand a little about automobiles, that we have to make oil changes, etc., and that’s because the majority of all people today are involved with an automobile in some way and have learned something along the way about auto maintenance. And, if we have a bicycle or boat or airplane, etc., we sometimes learn a little about the maintenance involved with physical machines.

► Next, a big mystery to most of the world that has to be taught:

A piano by design is always going flat ! !

Yes ! — from the time it is manufactured until the time it reaches the end of its service life. The strings are under a tremendous amount of tension, from about 25,000 lbs to 65,000 lbs on a huge concert grand piano. The strings are always stretching, especially noticeable when new. It takes about 7 to 10 tunings for a new piano to become “broken in” and to settle down to stable tuning behavior — with a lightly used home piano this might take several years or more. Once this happens the tuning might go gradually flat, but the piano stays relatively in tune to itself, and we find mature pianos that sound quite well up to a year or more between tunings.

► Finally, then, How often should a piano be tuned, or maintained?

This is a very complex subject, and needs to be considered carefully with the advice of an RPT, or “Registered Piano Technician“, who has the expertise and experience to give you a truthful answer.

The correct answer has to be based on you and your piano, and what are your expectations for it.

The answer goes from A to Z — if you want to just keep your piano out of trouble and not break apart due to lack of tuning, perhaps 1 tuning a year is good enough. If you are a recording studio, your Maintenance Program could be really often — Like DAILY !