As a matter of standard maintenance, your piano should be tuned twice a year. There are variances to this standard such as pianos that receive more intense and frequent use than those that are casually played in the home. Pianos in concert venues, churches, schools and other commercial environments require much more frequent tunings to keep the piano in tune; homes with several players will have pianos that require more frequent tunings as well.

Your piano, like those in homes and on stages throughout the world, is an instrument of extraordinary promise which can bring you and your family a lifetime of enjoyment.

To ensure its performance over that lifetime, it is important to have your piano serviced regularly by a qualified professional. Consult with your RPT Technician to set up a maintenance schedule customized for your instrument.

Regulation is different from tuning. Tuning corrects the pitch of your piano, but it is only one component of a complete maintenance program. Regulation is the adjustment of the mechanical aspects of the piano to compensate for the effects of wear, the compacting and settling of cloth, felt and buckskin, as well as dimensional changes in wood and wool parts due to changes in humidity; it attends to the touch and uniform responsiveness of the piano action, and ensures that your instrument is capable of producing a wide dynamic range of musical passages. Frequency is dependent upon the amount of use, exposure to climatic changes, as well as the instrument quality, age and condition.

Let's compare typical service mainteance between an automobile and a piano.

The most frequent service for your automobile is changing the oil (every 3,000 miles) - The most frequent service for your piano is Tuning (usually twice a year).

A more indepth maintenance service of your automobile is performed on a less frequent basis. The engine and mechanical areas are thoroughly inspected and adjustments are performed to keep the automobile performing at it's most efficient level, usually once the odometer hits a higher mileage and the automobile has more wear - Piano Regulation is the equivalent indepth maintenance service of your piano, the action is inspected and finite adjustments are made to the mechanical aspects of the piano due to use, wear and climatic changes, to keep your piano performing at it's most efficient level.