Piano Not Tuned in 10, 20, or 30 Years? Here's What to Expect

The most common opening line on our phone: "It's probably been twenty years… is it too late?" Almost never. Pianos are astonishingly forgiving of neglect — a decade of silence in a stable living room does far less harm than one winter in a garage — and most long-untuned pianos come back beautifully. But the first visit is different from a routine tuning, and knowing why saves you surprise on the day. Here's what's happened inside the piano, what the visit involves, what it costs, and the honest odds.

What twenty years of silence actually does

Less than you'd fear, in a stable room. Pitch has sagged — a piano drifts flat a little each year as the strings relax and the soundboard rides the seasons, so after two decades it's typically a semitone or more below A440. The felt has compacted, some keys may drag, a pedal may squeak, dust has settled on the soundboard. What hasn't necessarily happened: structural damage. A piano that lived quietly in a heated living room often has a perfectly healthy pinblock and board.

What does the damage is where it sat, not how long. Basement, cottage, garage, or a spot beside a radiator — those are the histories that produce loose pins, cracked boards, rusted strings, and mould in the felt. Twenty years untuned in a good room beats five years in a bad one.

Why the first visit needs a pitch raise

A piano a semitone flat can't be tuned to pitch in one pass. Bringing ~230 strings up to A440 adds roughly a tonne of tension to the frame, and the soundboard flexes under it — so the first strings you tune sag as the rest come up. The solution is a pitch raise: a deliberate, quicker first pass to bring the whole instrument near pitch, then a full fine tuning on top. Two to two and a half hours instead of ninety minutes, and it's priced as one visit: $230 ($210 intro) rather than the standard $160 ($140).

Occasionally a pitch raise on very old wire finishes what fatigue started and a string breaks — an accepted risk we warn about in advance on elderly pianos, and a routine repair. It's still the right thing to do for the instrument.

What else the visit involves

Assessment first, before any pin turns: how far below pitch, whether the pins hold tension, the state of the board, hammers, and action, anything living inside. Then the honest verdict — the vast majority of the time, "yes, let's bring it up." Then the pitch raise and tuning, with sticky keys eased, pedals quieted, and small buzzes chased along the way as part of the visit. Then you play it, and the piano sounds — most people are startled — like a piano again.

A long-neglected piano often wants a second tuning a few months later: after a big pitch correction, the structure settles into its new tension and drifts a little. That second visit is a standard tuning, and after it the piano typically holds an annual rhythm like any other.

The honest odds

From years of these visits, roughly: most long-untuned pianos in stable rooms come back fully with a pitch raise and a follow-up. A minority come back but reveal wear that's worth a conversation — hammers due for work, an action that wants regulation — all wearing-part repairs, all optional. A small share can't hold tension or have damp damage, and for those we say so plainly before you spend beyond the assessment. The repair-or-replace framework applies; the point is that you find out for a service-call fee, not a moving bill.

One warning sign worth knowing in advance: if a previous tuner said it "can't be tuned" or it sags within weeks of any tuning, that's usually a pinblock story, and the assessment will confirm it.

Before we arrive

Nothing dramatic. Clear the top and the lid, give us reasonable quiet and decent light, and — if you know it — tell us the piano's history when you book: where it's lived, when it was last tuned, whether it's moved. Don't clean the inside, don't oil anything, don't try to tune it yourself "to save us time." Just book the visit and let the piano surprise you.

Common questions

Can a piano be tuned after 20 years?
Almost always, if it's lived in a stable room. It will need a pitch raise (a two-stage correction) at the first visit and often a follow-up tuning months later, after which it holds a normal annual rhythm.

How much does it cost to tune a piano that hasn't been tuned in years?
A pitch raise plus tuning: $230 ($210 intro), versus $160 ($140) for a standard tuning. The assessment at the start of the visit confirms which you need before any work begins.

Is it bad for a piano to go years without tuning?
It's not good — pitch sags and the wear isn't caught — but the room matters far more than the calendar. A decade untuned in a heated living room is recoverable; a year beside a radiator or in a garage may not be.