When to Tune Your Piano After a Move

Your piano has been moved, it is sitting in its new spot, and you play a chord. Something sounds a little off. That is normal. Almost every piano drifts out of tune after a move, and in most cases the cause is not the trip itself. Here is when to tune your piano after moving, why waiting matters, and how to keep it stable in the Middle Tennessee climate.

Why pianos go out of tune after a move

A piano holds more than 200 strings at high tension, and its pitch depends on that tension staying steady. The tension in turn depends on the wooden soundboard, which swells when the air is humid and shrinks when it is dry.

When a piano moves, it almost always lands in a room with a different temperature, different humidity and different airflow. The soundboard reacts to the new room over days and weeks, and the pitch moves with it. A careful move keeps the piano from being jarred, but it cannot make the new room identical to the old one.

How long to wait before tuning

Piano technicians commonly recommend letting a piano acclimate for about two to four weeks before tuning. During that time the wood adjusts to the room and the pitch keeps shifting. Tune too soon and the tuning may not hold.

Some practical guidance:

• If the piano moved between very different environments, such as from a damp basement to a heated upstairs room, give it the full acclimation time.
• If it moved within the same house, the change may be smaller. Ask your technician whether a shorter wait makes sense.
• If the piano had not been tuned in years before the move, it may need a pitch raise as well as a tuning. That is a call for a technician.
• If something seems mechanically wrong, such as a sticking key or a buzzing note, do not wait. Have a technician look at it.

Humidity matters more than the move

Over the long run, the biggest threat to a piano's tuning is humidity swings. As general guidance, technicians commonly recommend keeping relative humidity roughly in the 40 to 50 percent range, with the temperature as steady as possible. Large swings in either direction stress the soundboard and can lead to sticking keys, loose tuning pins over time and, in severe cases, cracks.

The Middle Tennessee climate

Nashville and the surrounding area make humidity a year-round concern:

• Summers are hot and humid. Without steady air conditioning, indoor humidity climbs, the soundboard swells and pitch tends to rise. Keys can feel sluggish.
• Winters bring dry, heated air. Furnaces and heat pumps dry out indoor air, the soundboard shrinks and pitch tends to drop.
• Spring and fall swing quickly. Windows open one week, heat on the next, air conditioning the week after.

That is why many piano owners tune at least once a year, and often twice, around the change of seasons. A move simply adds one more change for the piano to settle into.

How to keep your piano stable

• Place it away from vents, radiators, fireplaces, exterior doors and direct sunlight.
• Put a hygrometer near the piano so you know what the humidity actually is.
• Use a humidifier in winter and air conditioning or a dehumidifier in summer as needed to stay near the recommended range.
• If the room is hard to manage, ask a technician about humidity control systems that can be installed inside the piano.
• Keep the lid closed when the piano is not being played.

Our checklist for preparing your piano and home for movers covers choosing the right spot before moving day.

Choosing a qualified piano technician

Tuning is skilled work, and quality varies. The Piano Technicians Guild (PTG) is a professional organization for piano technicians, and members who pass its series of exams earn the Registered Piano Technician (RPT) credential. The PTG website lets you search for technicians by location, which is a good place to start whether you live in Nashville, Franklin, Murfreesboro or Hendersonville.

When you call, mention that the piano was recently moved, the date it was delivered and roughly when it was last tuned. That helps the technician plan the visit.

A note on what Messolar does

Messolar moves pianos. We do not tune or repair them. Our job is to get your upright or grand to its new spot safely: we plan the route before moving day, pad and wrap the piano, and on grands we remove the legs, lyre and pedals and secure the piano to a piano board. From there, your piano technician takes over. Learn more about our piano moving service, including grand piano moving, or read why it pays to move a piano with professionals.

Planning a move?

If your piano has not moved yet, build the tuning into your schedule from the start: book the move, then book a technician for a few weeks after delivery. Request a piano moving quote to get the first step on the calendar.