Keytarist

Thank you my friends!. Ok, lets see if I can get one of these Piano Life Saver System here in Chile after the humidity check. I'll keep in mind that tip about the furnace also.

I'm going for a used piano, with good quality (I wouldn't say 'best quality' though), I wouldn't play too much as a professional player (I'm a composer) and I'm looking forward for a good dehumidifier. The climate in Santiago de Chile isn't stable through the year, we have a cold winter (temperatures sometimes droping to 0

Do you have Kijiji or Craigs List or equivalent? You'll often see pianos for very little or free and often the price is unrelated to the quality of the instrument because the sellers didn't buy it and don't care--they just want it out of the house. That's how we got our piano and, though it's not a Steinway, it's a wonderful instrument and very rewarding to play. Best $400 I ever spent. Actually, the price isn't the main concern. I know that nowadays things aren't easy, 'cos of the economic crisis, you know. But since I don't buy musical instruments every day, for this opportunity I'll go for the best option. I don't want to bother reviving this thread, I just want to know how bad a piano goes out of tune after the last technical service six months a go (playable or unplayable?)...please, thanks a lot!.

Good idea, but...I may finally buy a cheap instrument, but with irreversible damage. I'm not an expert so I couldn't notice if the instrument would need a complete replacement for mechanical parts, hammers, a setting in the key action, etc. I would go for it if it's really cheap or absolutely free.

How bad a piano goes out of tune after the last technical service six months a go?. I have been looking for used pianos in very good shape after the remanufacturing process. I was told that new pianos may have manufacture problems that appear after some years, so pianos with some years on them, show you what you're really going to get, without any major changes later. The brands are Rippen, Malmsj

Ok, thanks a lot for the feedback, guys. I can't make my mind yet, between a digital or real piano...(if digital: Kawai Es-6, Roland Fp-4, Yamaha Cp-300 or anything with an accurate piano sound). If you have more opinions about tuning, please post them.

It's a little bit confusing...I have had opinions of people feeling very confident about tuning their pianos, and other ones not so much. Do you feel happy with your acoustic piano, or after some time it gives you too much problem?. I have seen a lot of people getting rid of them.

Is there any tuning software that calculates the pitch for the whole 88 notes?.

I found some tuning gear, as the Verituner Pocket, but it seems that the most difficult part is in the technique. At least, this tuning soft/hardware helps you to solve the inharmonicity problem without figuring out by ear. Does non-traditional tuning (non-aural tuning) take a little time to learn (with the help of all these tuning artifacts)?...as stated at http://www.petesummers.com/tuneyourpiano3.html.

Groovatious makes another good point. You need to understand the mechanics and design of the piano or you can make damaging mistakes. Do you need to learn techniques for using the tuning tool (the hammer-shaped tool)?. When I started this thread, I was thinking on just learning to tune, because this is the most frequent reason that makes you call a technician. Other issues (like key action, voicing, etc.) are less common (I guess?) and you can spend money on them, if you don't know how to fix them.

Cydonia, are you talking about the harmonics series?. For example, the third harmonic of the A note is E, an octave and a fifth over the A (fundamental). So, when tuning I guess that you must check the real E an octave and a fifth over, in comparison with the third harmonic of the A note. I didn't notice that, now it seems pretty difficult. Now I'm concerned about environmental conditions (as said ElectricPuppy), because my house is almost full made of wood, and isn't perfectly isolated...where should do I place my piano?.

Thanks for your feedback. In this forum and other places, I have been inquiring for a lot of keyboards types, because I have been composing on a small midi 5 octave, and is very limited. Now, I can't make my mind between going digital or for the 'real thing'. The problem with synths, is that you cannot upgrade them (or just for the time the company will support you), so they go obsolete. A real piano will stay a real piano for over the time...but out of tune pianos are horrible, rarely I have played a piano in perfect pitch, indeed. Anyone of you have personal experience on tuning, for a short or long time?. I'm waiting for more opinion of players who had tried this.

Have you seen these guides like 'Tune your own piano'?. Some piano technicians had wrote these books, and they claim that you don't need to take a professional course like the one of Randy Potter and Rick Butler. The aim is to teach piano players how to tune their own instrument (like a guitar player can tune his own guitar), in order to get rid of fees for something that supposely you can do by yourself. I'm wondering if this is true, do you have some information?, like "true, but you need a lot of time", or "you can seriously damage your piano", etc. Thanks in advance.