Anne Rogers wrote:

Polly Esther wrote:

Well, you see, Anita, I'm not confident that this is certain -
Anita wrote If one person doesn't do a great job, your piano
will not suffer for it, so don't think you have to hit a home run the
first time you get a tuning.
My piano's had a very active life but she's not a kid anymore and
I'm concerned that a tuner could actually do some damage.
Polly


Polly, I agree, if you overtighten it can pull the whole frame
supporting the strings out of wack and there are plenty of reasonable
pianos around where it's not actually possible to get a perfect pitch of
every single note without doing damage and a good tuner knows how to get
the best out of it and also leave it such that it won't go out of tune
ridiculously fast.

The cast iron plate that supports the sound board
will support sufficient force even if the strings
are tightened a bit too much. The strings cannot
be tightened so much that it causes any kind of
change to the sound board, because if one was tightened
too much, it would break. I've broken strings before
because I pulled them too tight.

If your piano has been left alone too long, any
reputable tuner will tune it in a couple of sessions,
not bring it up to pitch in one sitting. You cannot
really damage a piano by pulling every string a few
cents too sharp. A will be around 440 Hz, even if your
tuner was deaf and A is tuned to 445 or 450 Hz, it
will not hurt the pinblock.

If your piano has been sitting anywhere near a heating
or cooling vent, an outside wall, or gets exposed to
any sunlight or any changes in humidity at all, it has
already been subject to more stresses than one tuning
will create.

I've owned old crap, bad piano-shaped objects,
rebuilt a piano, tuned falling-apart uprights and
consoles and grands, and now have a fine 100-year-old
Mason & Hamlin that is my treasure. Just tell the
tuner to be gentle and bring up to pitch in two
sessions and your piano will be good to go.

-- Anita --