What Causes a Piano to Go Out of Tune?

The main cause is humidity change. A piano's soundboard is wood, and wood swells when the air is damp and shrinks when it is dry. That movement changes the string tension and pulls the piano off pitch. Seasonal swings, moving the piano, and normal age all add to it.

Humidity is the biggest factor

In North Texas the air swings from damp spring weather to dry, heated winter air. The wooden soundboard rises and falls with that moisture, and because the strings are anchored to it, their tension changes and the pitch moves. This is why two tunings a year apart can look very different.

Seasonal change

Many pianos go slightly sharp in humid months and flat in dry months. Tuning at a consistent time each year helps, because the piano tends to be in a similar state when the technician arrives.

Moving and age

Moving a piano, even across a room, can shift its tuning as it settles into a new spot with different light, temperature, and humidity. Older pianos also drift more as their parts wear. None of this is a flaw. It is simply how a wooden, string-tensioned instrument behaves.

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