The late Dr. Wm Braid White, one of the best known acousticians and craftsmen in the country had this to say about a piano standing in tune: (this quotation is from his famous book "Piano Tuning and Allied Arts" which is commended to every student).

"No matter what any salesman may say, no matter how finely a piano may be made, no matter, in fact, what the physical circumstances or the price, or the domestic conditions may be, there is no such thing as a piano standing in tune, month after month. The better the piano, the more frequent and careful tuning it should have."

In the latest issue of Grove's Dictionary it is stated that an increase of ten points in humidity effects the tuning of a piano by about thirty cents. There being one hundred cents to each semitone, that is almost one third of a semitone.

Dr White adds,

"from the layman's standpoint, four tunings a year should be sufficient. The tuner knows, however, that if he had time to tune his piano as often as his ears tell him, he would tune it once a month at least. From a strictly scientific point of view, it is probably true to say that no piano ever made has ever stood in tune, unless it were maintained at a constant temperature and under constant barometric and hydroscopic conditions in a laboratory. When you consider that there are 227 strings and each is pulling on its pin, held in place by friction of wood on metal, and the pull is somewhere between 160 and 200 pounds, totaling between 33000 and 45000 pounds, and being under the added strain by the hammers hitting them, you will realise that it is impossible for the pins to hold their strings exactly as the tuner left them."

Another reason for the piano getting out of tune is the effect of changes in temperature. It is a matter of everyday knowledge that metal expands with heat and contracts with cold. Piano strings follow this natural law. If this expansion and contraction were uniform throughout the whole range of notes, the "pitch" would be lowered or raised correspondingly but the piano would still be in tune. Unfortunately it does not work out that way in practice. The rising and falling is irregular and immediately upsets the tuning, and even when the temperature resumes its normal, it will be found that the easing or tightening of the strings has effected the wrest strings to a greater or less degree, and the strings have again "run down".

There is no difficulty in deciding when a piano needs tuning, as the ear is readily offended by the resulting discords. In the case of a new piano there may still be a little "stretch" left in the strings and several tunings at frequent intervals may be required to entirely eliminate this. In touching upon the making of a piano it was stated that the strings were in a state of very high tension. From considerations of tonal quality a stouter gage of wire is selected for any given note, since the quality of tone is better the nearer the pull on the string approaches the maximum safety load. The result is that in modern pianos the total stress or load on a complete set of strings is from 16 to 20 tones, ant the load on any one of the steel strings is from 140 to 180 lb. It will be readily appreciated that the blow of the hammers, in ordinary playing, on strings of this tension will have the effect of gradually jerking the wrest pins, or tuning pins, which carry the strings and the strings in consequence will "run down". It will be equally obvious that the notes most often in use will be the first to get out of tune.

A piano having been bought and delivered, the first consideration is where to put it. The room should be as free as possibly from dampness and extreme change in temperature. If the acoustic properties of the room were uniform the ideal position would be the center of the floor. However, this ideal is likely to prove unpopular. The piano should, where possible, be placed across a corner as far from the wall as convenient. This allows air to circulate freely on every side, warding off dampness and giving freer vent to the sound when the instrument is in use.