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(1)

The straight answer is that a new piano will not hold its tune very well until after 6-10 tunings. 

     What is “in tune” for a piano, anyway ? 

A piano is a physical, acoustical instrument

and has to have its strings adjusted, or “tuned”, periodically — it’s not like an electronic device that more or less stays adjusted always.  It naturally and gradually goes flat over time, and has to be re-tuned like other stringed instruments such as a guitar.   

     Most of us think of “in tune” as meaning an instrument makes tones that are pleasing, and not “twangy” or rough sounding.  This is true.

But “in tune” also means sounding tones at the proper pitch, which is the international standard frequency of  A4 = 440Hz.  (All kinds of instruments are built to sound and play correctly at this frequency so that everyone world-wide can use their instruments to play the same music).  If an instrument does not sound its tones “up to pitch”, it sounds just plain bad to a musician, and to the rest of us it sounds kind of “thumpy” or “dull” if the pitch sinks too low.  This doesn’t hurt the piano as much as it hurts our ears, but continued neglect will usually lead to internal damage to the piano whenever the owner decides to restore it to playing condition.  When the pitch sinks like this, the piano cannot be used to play with other instruments or recordings very well, and in fact can sound horrible when tried.  So. we try to keep pianos “up to pitch” in the first place. 

     Further, a new piano has to be “broken in” before it holds its pitch any reasonable length of time.  It’s strings have to be stretched again and again by tuning and playing, the hammers have to become adjusted to the strings, the action has to become flexible through use, etc. before it settles down and begins to really perform well. 

During this break-in period tuning is the only
method for thoroughly “breaking in” a new piano,
even though playing is helpful during this process.  The reason for this is that there is no kind of music or practice pattern that plays each and every note on the piano the way a tuning does, pounding and flexing all the piano keys and parts again and again — only tuning will get this “break in” job done effectively.           [scroll up to (2) ]

(2)

The “break in” process takes 6-10 tunings:

If you bought your piano from a quality dealer, the  “break in” experience for a piano goes is like this: 
(a)  It is taken out of the shipping box; 
(b)  It is given a pre-tuning “tensioning” to set it at correct pitch; 
(c)  This is following by its regular first tuning or “fine” tuning at A=440 Hz;  next,

(d)  It is then given time to get adjusted to its new surroundings, temperature and humidity.  This first tuning will not hold more than two or three weeks; (e)  Then before it is delivered to your home, it is given a second tuning, lasting about 30 days; 

(f)  The third tuning is scheduled to be performed in your home by the dealer — this tuning must wait to be done at least a week or so after delivery to the new location so that the piano has chance to respond to the new temperature and humidity of your home — and this tuning needs to be done before 45 days after the second tuning in order that the piano not go flat again, and need to be double-tuned to restore the pitch as it was in step two above.  If the new owner delays scheduling this third tuning, he usually has to pay for a re-tensioning adjustment like step (2) above, although the dealer will pay for the third tuning as part of the purchase. 
(g)  The fourth tuning is scheduled and paid for by the owner, and it is at this point where the owner needs to schedule regular tunings to take advantage of the tunings and break-in process that has preceded the fourth tuning.  This tuning should be scheduled no more than about 4 months after the third tuning, because a lot of playing activity could also cause the piano to drop in pitch again at this point in its break-in process, requiring again that the pitch be restored as in the beginning when taken out of the box. 
(h)  The fifth tuning will usually hold up to 4 or 5 months with average use, but the owner is best advised to schedule this tuning about 4 months after the fourth tuning; 
(i)  The sixth tuning can be scheduled according to need — see the suggested tuning cycles according to use in the Article “Tuning Your Piano” — and will hold agreeably up to perhaps six months, according to the environmental conditions where it is located, whether it has a Dampp-Chaser climate control system installed, as well as according to how the piano is being used.           [scroll down to (3) ]

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(3)

Now!  Your piano has graduated from school.  It is ready for whatever use you have planned for it, except major concert work — if you are going to give a concert, you better play that concert on your piano many times, and then have the tuner give you a “concert tuning”, which is an extra hard and very exacting tuning that takes about twice the time as a normal tuning in order to check and stabilize every single note on the piano for extra heavy duty work during that concert.  Otherwise, you are now set to use your piano like you want.  Future tuning cycles can be scheduled now mainly according to use, and suggestions are found in the article “Tuning Your Piano”.

(4)

Speaking of “school”: 

Here, I want to share two concepts about pianos that I have gained over the years: 

     First, an impression of the many pianos in general that I am familiar with or have tuned.   

     I find that a piano I spend time with as a tuner, from taking a new piano from its box and carrying through its successive tunings, or most any piano that I tune regularly, behaves very similar to a trained animal like your pet at home.  This is to say that the more attention and time given to this “pet” piano, the better it performs, and the better it seems to “like” me.  When I tune them regularly and frequently, they just seem to start “remembering” their “tricks” — they seem to “want” to be tuned and play more beautifully with each tuning.  [scroll up and right]

(4) continued:

But when pianos are neglected, not tuned very often or regularly, they act just like our animal pets when they don’t practice their tricks, and thus literally start forgetting these tricks.  Like animal pets, pianos literally have to be re-taught their “tricks” (or tunings) when these tunings have been delayed or forgotten by the owner, in the same manner as a trained animal behaves if it is neglected.

 Next, something else I have noticed about piano tone in general over many years:

There are three areas of Piano Maintenance:

   1)  Tuning

   2)  Regulation

 3)  Voicing 

Tuning is the basic, repetitive step of maintaining a piano — it is equivalent to changing oil in your car.      Tuning involves adjusting string tension for proper pitch.
 

Regulation is the adjustment and lubrication of all the moving parts inside a piano, called the “action” — there are 10 to 12,000 parts and pieces total in a piano, and about 90% of these parts make up the action mechanism  —  and, there are about  1500 different adjustments of all these action parts.

In addition, all the action settings must be correct for the piano to play properly.  This “regulation” procedure is first done before a piano is delivered to an owner; then, for a home piano, it is needed again when the piano is “broken-in” after about 1 to 4 years of service, and again later on whenever needed, depending on how a piano is used — which is not often on home pianos. 

Voicing involves first the proper adjustment of piano hammers and strings, and means developing the most efficiency of tone and volume a piano is capable of delivering — and second it also includes both the tuning and regulation procedures (see above) before and as a part of any “voicing” project for the piano hammers and strings when it is performed.

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