Estes Park Piano Tuner
Estes Park Piano Tuner
Susan Novy
Susan Novy
(970) 577-1755
(970) 577-1755
Servicing Estes Park, CO and the surrounding areas
Servicing Estes Park, CO and the surrounding areas
Hi, I'm Susan Novy, the Estes Park Piano Tuner. I've been tuning pianos in northern Colorado including the Estes Park, Allenspark, Drake and Pinewood Springs areas for over 10 years now. During the summers, when I can get over Trail Ridge Road, I also tune in the Grand Lake/Grandby/Winterpark areas.
I learned piano tuning from the previous Estes Park piano tuner, Carl Burgener (who in 2018 died at the ripe old age of 102!). He had been tuning here for 50 years and an article in the paper mentioned he wanted to retire (I thought he was around 70!) I play the bassoon in the Village Band, Oratorio Orchestra and a couple of quintets, as well as the piano- for my own pleasure. So being musically inclined, I asked if he would teach me. He graciously accepted his new apprentice.
Hi, I'm Susan Novy, the Estes Park Piano Tuner. I've been tuning pianos in northern Colorado including the Estes Park, Allenspark, Drake and Pinewood Springs areas for over 10 years now. During the summers, when I can get over Trail Ridge Road, I also tune in the Grand Lake/Grandby/Winterpark areas.
I learned piano tuning from the previous Estes Park piano tuner, Carl Burgener (who in 2018 died at the ripe old age of 102!). He had been tuning here for 50 years and an article in the paper mentioned he wanted to retire (I thought he was around 70!) I play the bassoon in the Village Band, Oratorio Orchestra and a couple of quintets, as well as the piano- for my own pleasure. So being musically inclined, I asked if he would teach me. He graciously accepted his new apprentice.
After a winter in Carl's basement piano shop and hitting the tuning fork on my knee, listening to the "beats" and plunking away, I finally got a tuning down to 2-1/2 hours and "took it on the road". Not much has changed about the length of a piano tuning, but now I have a handy app on my phone that replaces the tuning forks. I still need my ears to hear the beats and unisons, though. It will never get as easy as just needing an app!
Give me a call ot text to schedule your next piano tuning.
(970) 577-1755 or text (970)372- 9584
After a winter in Carl's basement piano shop and hitting the tuning fork on my knee, listening to the "beats" and plunking away, I finally got a tuning down to 2-1/2 hours and "took it on the road". Not much has changed about the length of a piano tuning, but now I have a handy app on my phone that replaces the tuning forks. I still need my ears to hear the beats and unisons, though. It will never get as easy as just needing an app!
Give me a call ot text to schedule your next piano tuning.
(970) 577-1755 or text (970)372- 9584
When Should I Tune My Piano?
When Should I Tune My Piano?
Many of you wonder how often you should tune your piano here in the mountains of Estes Park, CO; especially those who wait for the grandkids to come play it! My experience is that playing the piano often helps to keep it in tune. Those who are professional and play with a very strong finger action may knock it out of tune more frequently, but basically, playing the piano "seats" the tuning well.
Weather is another consideration. Change in humidity will trump change in temperature for taking a piano out of tune. But a major change in humidity normally comes with the change in temperature of the weather. It seems that here in the mountains, May is a wet month (most snow) and August is a wet month (most rain- at least recently). May seems to be the switch in temperature to summer weather and late August seems to be the switch to colder weather, with January being the switch to very cold and windy weather.
Normally, twice per year the weather significantly changes from cold to hot or hot to cold, Luckily this is a dry climate, so our humidity is not as much of a factor as in the mid-west, for example. When tuning a piano, it's best to wait for the shift from warm to cold and vice versa to take hold for a week before tuning. So the normal tuning time is twice per year.
Another consideration is placement of the piano within the building. If it's next to a window that gets opened and closed, next to a wood burning stove or fireplace, on an outside wall, or near an exterior doorway, it may need to be tuned more often. These are all things that change the humidity/temperature factor. You can think of your piano as being very similar to your wood floor, should you have one. They both expand and contract with the weather, and consequently, this expansion and contraction tightens or loosens the pins holding the strings of a piano. If you have your piano in the middle of the home with temperature and humidity control, then the tuning could last up to a year (once it's already holding it's tune for 6 months).
And yet another consideration is how out-of-tune your piano is when you get it tuned. Piano strings are actually wires that are attached to a tuning pin on top and wrap around another pin at the bottom. The tension causes a dent in the wire to happen around the bottom pin. If you allow your piano to get too out of tune, that out-of-tune dent gets stronger and doesn't want to reconfigure itself very easily. It wants to go back to where it was. It's very similar to trying to change the shape of a coat hanger just a little bit. It wants to go back to how it was. So, in piano tuning lingo, when it's more than 10 cents off (%), it's considered a pitch raise (or lower- depending which way) and could take multiple tunings within a short period of time before it starts holding for 6 months.
So, all in all, if you figure 1-2 times per year on a tuning, you should keep your piano (and ears) in fine condition!
Many of you wonder how often you should tune your piano here in the mountains of Estes Park, CO; especially those who wait for the grandkids to come play it! My experience is that playing the piano often helps to keep it in tune. Those who are professional and play with a very strong finger action may knock it out of tune more frequently, but basically, playing the piano "seats" the tuning well.
Weather is another consideration. Change in humidity will trump change in temperature for taking a piano out of tune. But a major change in humidity normally comes with the change in temperature of the weather. It seems that here in the mountains, May is a wet month (most snow) and August is a wet month (most rain- at least recently). May seems to be the switch in temperature to summer weather and late August seems to be the switch to colder weather, with January being the switch to very cold and windy weather.
Normally, twice per year the weather significantly changes from cold to hot or hot to cold, Luckily this is a dry climate, so our humidity is not as much of a factor as in the mid-west, for example. When tuning a piano, it's best to wait for the shift from warm to cold and vice versa to take hold for a week before tuning. So the normal tuning time is twice per year.
Another consideration is placement of the piano within the building. If it's next to a window that gets opened and closed, next to a wood burning stove or fireplace, on an outside wall, or near an exterior doorway, it may need to be tuned more often. These are all things that change the humidity/temperature factor. You can think of your piano as being very similar to your wood floor, should you have one. They both expand and contract with the weather, and consequently, this expansion and contraction tightens or loosens the pins holding the strings of a piano. If you have your piano in the middle of the home with temperature and humidity control, then the tuning could last up to a year (once it's already holding it's tune for 6 months).
And yet another consideration is how out-of-tune your piano is when you get it tuned. Piano strings are actually wires that are attached to a tuning pin on top and wrap around another pin at the bottom. The tension causes a dent in the wire to happen around the bottom pin. If you allow your piano to get too out of tune, that out-of-tune dent gets stronger and doesn't want to reconfigure itself very easily. It wants to go back to where it was. It's very similar to trying to change the shape of a coat hanger just a little bit. It wants to go back to how it was. So, in piano tuning lingo, when it's more than 10 cents off (%), it's considered a pitch raise (or lower- depending which way) and could take multiple tunings within a short period of time before it starts holding for 6 months.
So, all in all, if you figure 1-2 times per year on a tuning, you should keep your piano (and ears) in fine condition!
(970) 577-1755, (970) 372-9584 (text) or susannovy01@msn.com
Susan Novy 1445 Matthew Cir. Estes Park, CO 80517
(970) 577-1755, (970) 372-9584 (text) or susannovy01@msn.com
Susan Novy 1445 Matthew Cir. Estes Park, CO 80517