Be nice to your tuner

• Should I tip my piano tuner?

​Tipping any person is a voluntary demonstration of appreciation for services offered above or beyond what was expected.  I have not found tipping to be a regular occurrence though it does happen.  Although I cannot imagine anyone to refuse such a gift, you might instead offer some coffee or tea (depending upon the weather?) 
 

• Do I need to be home during the tuning?
No – unless you truly enjoy listening to a couple hours of tedious pounding of notes.  If you are comfortable leaving your tuner this may be a great time to get out of the house.​
 

• Do I need to keep the house quiet for tuning?
Yes!  Remember that tuning involves very focused listening, breaking down sound into its beat-waves and then making each one beat faster or slower.  A good tuning then cannot possibly be ensured along with a noisy environment.  I will list from my experience some of the most common audible disturbances, which you should consider limiting during the tuning:

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→ Running water: washing & clanking dishes                            → Running the clothes washer & drier

→ TV, radio, movies or microwave running                                → House cleaners: please don’t schedule the vacuuming at same time
→ Lawn maintenance: movers, weed-eaters, leaf blowers…   → TV, radio, movies or microwave running
→ Roofers & basement finishers                                                  → People whistling, humming or singing the notes we are tuning
→ Barking or howling dogs & screeching pet birds                    → Falling water from waterfalls and aquariums
→ Overly loud children and phone conversations

                                  And yes, we even hear you talking about us on the phone…