The further out of tune the piano gets between tunings, the less stable its tuning will be when it does get tuned. Wide swings of humidity can keep a piano’s pitch in a constant state of flux, forcing the tuner to radically change the pitch with each tuning. The soundboard swells and shrinks slightly with changes in humidity, altering the tension on the strings. How much sharper or flatter is both an art and a science, which is one of the reasons why some astute musicians may prefer one tuner over another.ĭaily and, especially, seasonal variations in humidity are the most common cause of pianos without structural flaws going out of tune. To compensate for these effects, the tuner must tune ( stretch) the octaves a bit sharper in the treble and a bit flatter in the bass than would be the case were the octaves actually perfect. In addition, the human ear tends to hear the higher pitches as a little flatter than they actually are. Due to the stiffness of steel strings, the frequencies of their harmonics are somewhat higher than the theoretical ideal, a property called inharmonicity. For a piano to sound right, the tuner must tune each string so that its harmonic and fundamental frequencies are all in tune with those of the other strings. Vibrating strings give off harmonics - fainter tones whose frequencies are in a specific mathematical relationship to that of the fundamental, or principal frequency at which the string is vibrating. But even the phrase perfect octave is a bit of a misnomer.
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