What Is a Pitch Raise — And Do You Need One?
By Eathan Janney, Founder — Floating Piano Factory
If you have called a piano technician after a long gap in service, you may have heard the words “pitch raise” and felt a quiet concern that this was going to cost more than expected.
It often does cost more. But it is not a mystery, and it is not a sales tactic. A pitch raise is a real, necessary step when a piano has drifted too far from standard pitch to be corrected by a single tuning pass.
Here is what it means, why it happens, and how to know whether you need one.
What Is Standard Piano Pitch?
Every piano is designed to be tuned to A440 — meaning the A above middle C vibrates at 440 cycles per second. This is the international standard, and it is the pitch at which a piano sounds its best, feels right under the fingers, and agrees with other instruments.
When a piano is maintained regularly, it stays close to A440 and a single fine tuning is sufficient to bring it back to precision.
When a piano is neglected — or placed in a harsh environment — it can drift significantly below A440. And that is where the pitch raise comes in.
Why Does a Piano Drift Flat?
Several things cause a piano to drift below standard pitch:
Neglect is the most common cause. Every piano drifts over time. If tunings are skipped year after year, the cumulative drift can be substantial.
Low humidity causes the piano’s soundboard to dry out and contract, reducing its upward bow (called “crown”). As the crown flattens, string tension decreases and pitch falls.
Age plays a role in older instruments with aging pin blocks — the block of wood that holds the tuning pins. A worn pin block holds tension less reliably.
Moving the piano can jostle the structure and cause pitch to shift, especially after a long distance move.
Why Can’t You Just Tune It Flat?
This is a fair question. If the piano is flat, why not simply tune it to itself — so all the notes are in tune with each other — rather than raising it all the way back to A440?
The answer is that pianos are designed to function at A440. The tension of the strings, the resonance of the soundboard, the behavior of the action — all of it is calibrated for standard pitch. A piano tuned to itself at a significantly lower pitch will not sound the way it was built to sound.
More practically: if you ever want to play with another instrument, use recordings as reference, or have a student with developing pitch perception practice on the piano, you want the piano at standard pitch.
What Actually Happens During a Pitch Raise
A pitch raise is a preliminary pass through all the strings before the fine tuning.
During the pitch raise, the technician raises every string toward standard pitch — quickly, not with fine precision. The goal is to get the overall tension of the instrument back to approximately where it belongs.
Here is the challenge: when you raise the tension on one string, it slightly affects the tension on neighboring strings. The entire structure of the piano responds to the change. After a pitch raise, the piano will be closer to A440 but will still be unstable and uneven. It needs a full fine tuning afterward to reach proper precision.
In some cases — when the piano is severely flat — two or even three passes may be needed before fine tuning is possible.
Does a Pitch Raise Harm the Piano?
A pitch raise done carefully by a skilled technician does not harm a well-built piano.
Pianos are built to withstand the tension of A440. Returning them to that tension is not damaging.
What can cause problems is raising a piano’s pitch too quickly on an instrument that is extremely old, structurally weakened, or in poor condition. In those cases, a careful technician will raise the pitch gradually over multiple visits rather than attempting it all at once.
If your piano is in reasonable structural condition, a pitch raise is a normal part of bringing it back to its intended state.
How Much Does a Pitch Raise Cost?
A pitch raise adds time and labor to a service appointment. At Floating Piano Factory, pitch raises are included or quoted within our service tiers depending on the degree of correction needed.
The better question is: what does it cost not to tune regularly?
A piano tuned twice a year almost never needs a pitch raise. A piano left untuned for three or four years almost always does — and the cost of the pitch raise plus the fine tuning will exceed what several years of regular tuning would have cost.
Regular maintenance is the most economical path.
How to Know If You Need a Pitch Raise
You probably need a pitch raise if:
- Your piano has not been tuned in two or more years
- Your piano was in a very dry environment (low humidity, harsh winter, unheated space)
- Your piano was moved recently and had not been tuned since
- A technician has mentioned that the piano is significantly flat
- The piano sounds noticeably dull, muddy, or low compared to recordings or other instruments
The best way to know for certain is to have a qualified technician evaluate it.
A Note on Pitch Raises and New Pianos
New pianos are a special case. The strings on a new instrument are still stretching and settling into their tension. During the first year or two after purchase, new pianos often need three to four tunings — not because something is wrong, but because this is part of how the strings stabilize.
Your piano dealer should have explained this at the time of purchase. If they did not, do not be alarmed — it is normal, and it resolves with consistent tuning.
Ready to Schedule?
If your piano has not been tuned in a while, I am glad to evaluate it and let you know exactly what it needs.
Floating Piano Factory serves Chicago, Chicagoland, and surrounding areas with Essential, Signature, and Premier Care appointments.
Eathan Janney is the founder of Floating Piano Factory and has been tuning pianos professionally since around 2000.