Piano Tuning?

Question

The piano at my church is very sharp in it's playing. Hopefully I'm being clear on this... it's in tune, but "piercing" - I'm fairly certain there is a way to work with the hammers to round out or soften the tone, but what exactly is done?

Thanks.

Well first reply, if you don't know, why in hell did you answer? Twit...

Answer 1

Some players call this "tinny" if it's what I suspect you're hearing. The cliché old west saloon sound. You need a piano technician (some technicians are tuners but not all tuners are technicians) -- he'll use a special pick on the felt of the hammers to soften them up.

If you don't soften evenly you get an uneven piano - if you soften too much it's not responsive or the felt falls apart.

The causes can be as simple as compression over time (normal wear) and as preventable as children beating heavily on the keys. It could be that the acoustics of the church is conducive to that sound and it could be that there is something other than the piano at work here (sympathetic vibrations).

"Sharp" isn't the word you want here because that means something else in piano tuning world. Sharp means the pitch is higher than it should be. You're describing a problem with the timbre of the instrument.

A good tech will at least diagnose your problem and let you know what sort of cost is going to be involved.

Answer 2

There are three ways you can change the hammers to affect the sound: one is to pierce the hammers with a needling tool. This will puff up the felt in the hammers and soften the sound significantly.

The second way is to drop certain chemicals (usually lacquer or alcohol with key tops dissolved in it) on the hammers. The felt on the hammers will harden when the chemicals dry and make a sharper sound.

Thirdly, if the hammers are old, they will wear and get string impressions on them. This can create a softened, unfocused sound, but can be fixed by basically using sandpaper to reshape them.

All of these things should be done by a professional. There are many specifics and should be done after a diagnosis of the entire piano.

Answer 3

Well, I'm not sure about this, but you may want to ask a piano tuner to check the piano out. Maybe it is just not tuned well, or maybe there is something wrong with it.

Also, the problem may be in the piano itself. I know about pianos like these. Their sounds are very thin. I understand what you're saying. Sometimes, I believe it is just in the piano itself. Maybe the piano is not such great quality. I used to have a piano that had a thin, sharp sound. After years, my dad bought me a baby grand, and the difference was very big. The sound was suddenly very whole and beautiful, so it may just be that the piano was made that way or it is not such a good piano. If you want to replace it but you don't have the money, you could buy a music synthesizer or a keyboard such as the Roland Fantom series or Korg Triton series. They have beautiful piano sounds and they are not too expensive.

Answer 4

im not sure ask piano expert