Allied Piano Tuning

"Thank you for writing, and for the complimentary review of our technician. It took a few days to respond, to give me a chance to learn more about the piano and our service. It appears it had been 6 1/2 yrs. since the previous tuning. Our technician corrected the pitch at a rate of $134.50, going over the whole piano twice, followed by tuning to A440 the same day, for another $134.50. Her return trip for a normal tuning two weeks later was $134.50. This was a total of $403.50 plus tax. She also made a repair to the pedals, at no charge. Pitch work is one of the issues that is most difficult for piano technicians to explain. If I could take this opportunity to try to explain it to other readers, I would appreciate it, and am glad it came up. Especially in the past, before today's computer-based assistance, pitch was something many tuners did not address. They tuned to an average of the highs and lows they found, as a starting point, rather than starting with a true A440 standard. It was so much extra work, and difficult to explain extra fees, so many tuners simply "tuned" rather than get into the complications of the issues involved. Pianos carry many tons of string tension, perhaps 18-20 tons, so it is not something to take on casually. This string tension is engineered around the A440 pitch standard, so not only can instruments play together when A440 is adhered to, but tonally the piano sounds its best there. (It is not known or assumed that your tuner did this, as the low pitch could have simply been caused by the time gap between tunings.) Once this big pitch correction has been done, as long as the piano is tuned regularly it will never need to be repeated. Manufacturers recommend a minimum of twice yearly. With today's ability to control the environment through modern home "greening", and piano humidifiers as needed, some pianos can be tuned less than that and still be readily maintained at A440. So you have raised an important issue. I believe that most tuner/technicians who have the skills, experience and knowledge to properly service a piano are priced in the same range as we are. The technician who tuned for you spent two years in training at the very highly-regarded No. Bennet St. School in Boston, learning the piano trade, and has continued to regularly expand her knowledge by working for Allied, and by attending regular technical seminars. I again thank you for taking the time to let us know how we are doing. We feel fortunate to work in a field of technical requirements, with musical results. It makes for fascinating work. You may call me if you have further questions. Best regards, Ruth Zeiner"

"Thank you for this! We appreciate hearing it."

"Thank you so much. We're glad to be able to provide finish repair as well as tuning."