Out of tune piano?

[crispygoat]

I had the day off today and decided to visit some garage sales in hopes of finding a $100 60s Fender, which unfortunately didn't happen, so I decided to go to the flea market. I spotted an upright piano in the back, $100. It looks in good condition, not mint, but good. I don't know much about piano but it seems like a good deal, however the piano is way out of tune.

I'm wondering if it's worth picking up? I heard somewhere that at some point, pianos are untunable, which seems a bit unbelievable but you never know. Is it even worth picking up if it's out of tune? How much would it cost to have it tuned up?

What do you think?
Thanks

[fourstringdrums]

I've never heard of an untunable piano unless it was never taken care of. But a tuning should only be about $100 or so, and that's a great deal if the piano is in good condition overall.

[poorbassist15]

I'm paying to get mine tuned, go for it.

[calshands]

I have been warned of pianos that could not be tuned or that had broken parts that could not be sourced. It might be worth it to have the tech that will tune the piano come out and take a look before you buy it.

[uethanian]

i don't know about where you live, but around here it's normal to see pianos for free on CL. so unless it's a nice instrument, i wouldn't.

what you've heard about pianos being untunable is probably in reference to the tuning pins stripping their holes in the pinblock and no longer holding under tension. simple fix, replace the old pins with slightly larger ones.

it would probably cost more than $100 to have it professionally tuned. you could always use it as a learning experience and tune it yourself. there's some info online. it's not something that will come out perfect your first, second, or third time, but you can initially ballpark it by tuning to an electronic keyboard.

[jmattbassplaya]

Originally Posted by uethanian

i don't know about where you live, but around here it's normal to see pianos for free on CL. so unless it's a nice instrument, i wouldn't.

what you've heard about pianos being untunable is probably in reference to the tuning pins stripping their holes in the pinblock and no longer holding under tension. simple fix, replace the old pins with slightly larger ones.

it would probably cost more than $100 to have it professionally tuned. you could always use it as a learning experience and tune it yourself. there's some info online. it's not something that will come out perfect your first, second, or third time, but you can initially ballpark it by tuning to an electronic keyboard.

This. I probably see a piano go for free (or dirt cheap) on CL at least once a month. I'd hold out, personally.

[scottbass]

Originally Posted by uethanian

i don't know about where you live, but around here it's normal to see pianos for free on CL. so unless it's a nice instrument, i wouldn't.

what you've heard about pianos being untunable is probably in reference to the tuning pins stripping their holes in the pinblock and no longer holding under tension. simple fix, replace the old pins with slightly larger ones.

it would probably cost more than $100 to have it professionally tuned. you could always use it as a learning experience and tune it yourself. there's some info online. it's not something that will come out perfect your first, second, or third time, but you can initially ballpark it by tuning to an electronic keyboard.

Where I live there are no free pianos. But that just goes to show that everywhere is different, I guess.

The stripped tuning pin info above is exactly correct. HOWEVER, if the tuning block is wood, it is possible that a few of them are more than just stripped and enlarged - the wood itself may be cracked. In that case is is VERY expensive to repair, if it can be repaired at all. Another common fault of old pianos is a cracked sounding board. You might not notice it right now, but under certain conditions of temperature and humidity it may open up just enough to give you an intolerable buzz on certain notes.

I wouldn't try to tune a piano with just an electronic keyboard. When you strike a key on a piano, the hammer is actually hitting two or three individual strings. EACH of these strings must be tuned a few cents away from its neighbor in order to give the piano a full, harmonious sound. But of course they can't be tuned too many cents apart or the end effect will be jangly ear-chaos. A very accurate (and relatively expensive) tuner is required to tune a piano correctly. The real master-level piano tuners still use a set of tuning forks to induce the root notes (13 of them), harmonics and the several-cents beats for the complementary strings.