What to Expect From Your First Piano Tuning Appointment in Chicago
By Eathan Janney, Floating Piano Factory
If you’ve never had your piano tuned before — or if it’s been long enough that the memory has faded — it’s natural to feel uncertain about what the visit involves. What does a piano technician actually do? How long does it take? Will it sound dramatically different afterward?
Here’s what you can expect from a Floating Piano Factory tuning appointment in Chicago.
Before the Appointment
Prepare the piano’s space. You don’t need to do much, but a few things help. Clear any objects from the top of the piano — books, framed photos, sheet music, decorative items. These can vibrate or shift during tuning and may affect what the technician hears. Make sure the piano lid or fallboard is accessible.
Note anything unusual. If your piano has specific issues — a sticking key, a buzzing sound on certain notes, a pedal that doesn’t work correctly — make a mental note or write it down. Your technician should have time to assess these during the appointment.
Room temperature matters. Ideally, your piano should be in its normal room environment for at least a few hours before the appointment. A piano that’s been sitting in an unusually cold or warm room may need extra time to stabilize.
What Happens During the Tuning
When your technician arrives, they’ll typically do a brief assessment of the piano before beginning work — checking the overall pitch level, noting any obvious issues, and getting a sense of the instrument’s condition.
The tuning itself involves adjusting the tension of each of the piano’s 200-plus strings using a specialized tuning lever and precise listening — whether by ear, by electronic reference, or both. The strings are wound around tuning pins in the pin block; each small rotation of a pin changes the pitch of one string. The goal is for all strings to vibrate at the correct frequency relative to the international standard of A440 cycles per second.
A full tuning typically takes between 45 minutes and 90 minutes, depending on the condition of the piano and how far it has drifted. If the piano is significantly below standard pitch, a “pitch raise” is required first — a rougher pass through all the strings to bring the overall tension closer to where it needs to be — followed by the fine tuning. This is common for pianos that haven’t been serviced in more than a year.
You may hear test passages played repeatedly. This is normal. Technicians play octaves, unisons, intervals, and short melodic fragments to test pitch accuracy across the range of the piano. The process is methodical and requires concentration — quiet in the room is helpful.
The Three Tiers of Care
At Floating Piano Factory, we offer three levels of service for Chicago clients:
Essential Care ($150) is the foundation: professional tuning, a basic condition check, and practical care recommendations. It’s the right starting point for a regularly maintained instrument and for families, students, and everyday piano owners.
Signature Care ($275) goes deeper. In addition to precision tuning, your technician will spend more time assessing touch and tone, note minor adjustments where they’re practical within the appointment, and discuss a longer-term care plan for your instrument. This is the tier that serious players and teachers tend to prefer.
Premier Care ($395) is the most thorough visit we offer. It includes advanced tuning refinement, a deeper evaluation of the instrument’s overall condition, priority recommendations, and extended attention to tone, touch, and stability. It’s the right choice for premium pianos, performance preparation, and clients who want the most complete picture of their instrument’s condition.
After the Appointment
When the tuning is complete, your technician should walk you through anything notable they observed — string condition, a pitch raise that may need a follow-up visit, humidity-related issues, or regulation concerns. This isn’t a sales pitch; it’s a care report.
Your piano will sound noticeably cleaner immediately after tuning. Notes will sustain more evenly, octaves will lock together, and chords will have more clarity. If the piano was significantly out of tune, the change can be striking.
A note about settling: it’s normal for a freshly tuned piano to drift slightly in the first week or two after a tuning, especially if it was a pitch raise or if the piano is in a variable humidity environment. This isn’t a sign the tuning was done incorrectly — it’s the strings and structure settling under the new tension. A follow-up tuning two to four weeks later can help stabilize this if needed.
Questions Worth Asking
Good technicians welcome questions. A few worth raising at your first appointment:
- “When was this piano last tuned, and does it look like it’s been tuned regularly?”
- “Is the pitch stable, or does it drift faster than expected for a well-maintained instrument?”
- “Are there any mechanical issues I should know about — regulation, voicing, repairs?”
- “What humidity level should I aim for in this room?”
- “How often do you recommend I tune this particular instrument?”
Ready to Book
Chicago piano service is performed personally by Eathan Janney, founder of Floating Piano Factory, with more than two decades of tuning experience.
Book your Chicago piano appointment →
Essential Care starts at $150. Signature Care at $275. Premier Care at $395. All appointments include a condition check and care recommendations.