How often do I need to tune my piano? All piano manufacturers recommend that their pianos be tuned every six months. This indeed is the ideal for every piano. When your piano is being used on a regular bases, especially for lessons, it needs to be tuned every six months.
	Why do I need to tune my piano every six months? When students are learning the piano, the proper pitch of each note is very important to the learning process. This alone is a good reason to tune your piano every six months. In addition to that, if you desire to maintain the highest value on your piano, regularly scheduled piano tunings keep your piano in tip-top condition and helps maintain the value of your piano. It is simple: you own a musical instrument, it needs the proper care and maintenance. You would not go for 1000s of miles and not change the oil in your car. So why wouldn't you take care of a valuable musical instrument? Sadly, however, many ignore their pianos and figure since no one is playing it, it doesn't need to be tuned. This is not true, if you are at all interested in maintaining the value of your piano over the years.
	How and why do pianos go out of tune? Pianos are made of wood and metal; both of which are affected by temperature and atmospheric pressure changes. Every time you open the door to your home you change the atmospheric pressure in your home. As temperatures change in your home they causes any piano, played or not to go out of tune. Temperature and atmospheric pressures plays a big role in affecting the sound board of your piano. The sound board will flex even the slightest causing the piano to go out of tune. Secondly, the stress on your piano from the strings alone will also cause a piano to go out of tune. On the average upright style piano there is approximately 18 ton of pull on the piano when it is in tune. This pressure alone when affected by temperature and atmospheric pressures causes the piano to go out of tune.
	How can I tell the age of my piano? Beeker Piano Service offers to look up the age of your piano at no cost to you. All we need is the name of your piano and the serial number. Write to us and let us help you discover more about your piano.
	Where do I find the serial number? Most serial numbers on pianos are located somewhere on the gold (or sometimes black) cast-iron plate. Most can be found on the top of the plate on uprights, and near the front-end of the plate on a grand.If you have a hard time find it, contact us and maybe can help.
	Does Beeker Piano Service offer estimates on the value of my piano? Yes. Mr. Beeker can examine your piano and give you a fairly accurate appraisal of your piano's value. The market is different from one part of the country to another. Yet on the whole the estimates you recieve will be pretty much across the board nationwide.
	How much does piano tuning cost? Mr. Beeker will give you that information when you contact him. However, in the Cincinnati, Ohio and Fairborn, Ohio area the cost runs between $85 to $135 depending on the condition of your piano and when it was tuned last. Outside a certain area, there is an additional $10 fee for mileage traveled. It is important too for you to know that if you have not tuned your piano for a long time, one tuning may not be enough. In most cases like this, a follow up tuning about 30 days later is important to bring the piano back to a proper stable tune.
	I do not play my piano much. Do I still have to tune it every six months? No. In most cases, if your piano is not used much, a once-a-year tuning will suffice. However, to go beyond a year and not tune your piano is asking for a lot of trouble. The longer your piano goes without tuning the more it cost to bring it back and more damage can be created. Pianos that are not tuned on somewhat of a regular bases can easily begin to have cracked sound boards due the stress factors involved in not tuning the piano. We recommend that you keep you piano tuned at least once-a-year if you only play it occasionally.