When to Tune a Piano After Moving

When to tune a piano after moving is a common question piano owners ask themselves. Whether you need to tune an upright piano or a grand piano after moving will depend on a variety of factors. The best answer to the question: “Does a piano need to be tuned after moving” is most likely.

This Moving Help® article will discuss when to tune a piano after moving, why a piano goes out of tune during a move, and what qualifies as moving a piano.

After Moving, When Do I Need to Tune a Piano?

The average time recommended to tune a piano after moving is about three weeks. Most experts say from two to eight weeks is how long you should wait to tune a piano after moving. Of course, some experts say you need less than two weeks, and some experts say more than eight weeks. 

When hiring someone to tune your piano, you can always see what their recommendation is for tuning a piano after a move. 

What is agreed upon is to not get your piano tuned 24 hours or less after moving it. Your piano will need time to acclimate, and 24 hours is just not enough. 

Why Does a Piano Go out of Tune During a Move?

A common misconception about why a piano goes out of tune after moving is the rough drive or shifting inside of the truck.

This is actually wrong. The two main reasons a piano goes out of tune are because of temperature and humidity. While pianos are delicate, pianos — especially older pianos — are built to withstand the road’s ruggedness during a potential move. 

A new environment with a different level of temperature or humidity will cause your piano to react differently. It also takes a while for a piano to finish reacting to the temperature and humidity after moving a piano. This is why if you tune your piano too soon, you’re wasting your time and money because your piano isn’t finished reacting to its surrounding environment. 

What Qualifies as Moving a Piano for It to Get Tuned?

You might wonder what qualifies as moving your piano to get it tuned. After all, moving your piano from one room to another room isn’t the same as moving across town, or moving to another state, across the country, or internationally. 

Once again, it all depends on the temperature and humidity. If you’re moving your piano from one room to another room with a similar temperature level and humidity level, you probably won’t need to get a tuning after moving a piano. 

Now, if you’re moving your piano from your hot garage to the coolness of your living room, you can expect to get your piano tuned. The difference in temperature and humidity between your garage and living room definitely will affect your piano’s tune. 

Whether you’re moving across town or across the country, then the odds are you’ll need to get your piano tuned after moving a piano because it’s unlikely that both locations for your piano will have a similar temperature and humidity level. 

What Else Can I Do to Limit My Piano From Going out of Tune During a Move? 

One way to prevent a piano needing to be tuned after moving is to get a climate-controlled truck or to hire piano movers with a climate-controlled truck. You also could buy a humidifier and if your truck has an outlet, you can plug in your humidifier to help keep the piano closer to its normal humidity level. 

While you should wait some time before needing a piano to get tuned, you shouldn’t wait too long either. If you wait for more than a couple of months, it’ll hurt your piano’s tuning level. Pianos should get tuned on a regular basis and skipping on a tuning after moving could hurt it. 

Finally, you can check whether your piano might need to be tuned by using a free app to check the piano’s pitch. A piano’s pitch should be at A-440 (440Hz).  

Moving Help® Can Take Care of Your Piano 

Moving Help Service Providers on the Moving Help Marketplace can take care of your piano move with ease. It’s difficult to move a piano if you don’t know what you’re doing, but with our moving labor, it doesn’t have to be difficult. You can find a provider near you to help load and unload your piano for you.