Working With Your Piano Technician

Anybody who cares about their instrument has a technician. Getting the two trades in the right order around a move saves money and produces a better result, and people frequently do it backwards.

Just-tn-Time Moving works throughout Washington and Washington County.

Do not tune before the move

The commonest wasted expense.

A piano holds roughly eighteen to twenty tons of string tension against a wooden frame, in equilibrium with its environment. Movement, temperature change and above all a change in humidity shift the pitch.

So a tuning done the week before a move is undone by the move. Wait, and tune once it has settled.

Wait two to four weeks afterwards

Long enough for the instrument to acclimatise to the new room. Tuning a piano still adjusting means paying to have it done again.

The exception is a long move or a change of climate, where a technician may want to see it sooner and may recommend more than one tuning over the following months. That is normal for an instrument that has moved between quite different environments.

When to have a technician involved before the move

Two situations where it is genuinely worth it.

tf you are unsure whether the piano is worth moving. A technician will tell you in one visit whether the soundboard is sound, whether it holds a tune, whether the action is even and whether the pin block still grips. That is money well spent before rather than after paying to move something that needs work exceeding its value.

tf the instrument is valuable or unusual. A technician may want to prepare it or advise on handling, and for a fine instrument that advice should shape the move rather than follow it.

What each of us does

We move it: dollies, boards, protection, the route, the placement.

The technician tunes, regulates the action, voices, and advises on the environment. We do not adjust or work on the instrument, and a mover offering to tune it is not somebody to hire.

Ask about humidity while they are there

Particularly relevant here. Our climate is dry, and dryness is what pianos struggle with: the soundboard loses moisture and shrinks, tuning pins loosen over time, and in severe cases the board cracks.

A technician can advise on humidity control for the instrument, which for anything valuable is worth doing rather than discovering the consequences.

Tell us where the piano is going and we will place it there.

Call (435) 862-3080 or email office@movingjustintime.com.