Tune your own piano at home, step by step.
TuneLever is a phone app that coaches you through tuning your own upright piano. It shows the peg (tuning pin) to turn, listens while you turn it, and checks every move.
- App Store: coming soon
- Google Play: coming soon
For people who’d like to tune their own piano
You have an acoustic piano at home. A tuning visit costs about $150, and the piano drifts again with the seasons. You’re patient, you like to fix things yourself, and you want to know how it’s done.
You don’t need any experience. The app starts with what a peg is and which way is tighter, and lets you practice before you touch a real string.
How it works
Step 1: Can I tune it?
Answer a few questions and play some notes. The app tells you whether your piano is one to tune yourself. It’s free.
Step 2: Get the tools
You need three things: a tuning lever (tuning hammer), a few rubber wedges (mutes) and a felt strip (temperament strip). Together they cost about $35 to $60.
The app shows each one, what it’s for, and which tip fits most pianos.
Step 3: Tune with live checks
The app shows which key to play, where each wedge goes, and which peg to put the lever on. Then it listens while you turn.
It says “a little tighter” or “a little looser”, then “let go”, and checks that the peg holds before you move on.
Step 4: The 6-month reminder
Pianos drift as the seasons change. Six months after you tune, the app reminds you to play every note, so it can show what moved.
Often it’s just a few notes, and a short touch-up puts them back.
It checks every move
Home tunings usually go wrong in the hands, not the ears: the wrong peg, two strings ringing at once, a peg turned too far. TuneLever listens for each of these and stops you.
One string at a time
Before you turn, it checks that only one string is ringing. If a wedge slips and two strings sound, it tells you to push it back in.
The right peg
You nudge the peg a little looser first. If the pitch doesn’t drop, it says stop: that’s the wrong peg, or the lever isn’t on properly.
Never cranking
If the pitch isn’t moving, you don’t keep turning. You make small turns, and if you go too far, it tells you to go back below and come up again.
Knowing when to stop
A piano far below pitch is raised in passes, with a limit on each one. Too far gone, and it tells you to call a technician.
Snapshot: a free check of the whole piano
Play every key, bottom to top. It takes about five minutes. You get a map of the keyboard that shows which notes are off and by how much.
Then it says what to do: touch up a few notes, tune the whole piano, raise the pitch first, or call a technician. The Snapshot is free for one piano.
An example: 62 of 88 keys are more than 4 cents off. The middle is about 5 cents flat, and it gets flatter toward the top.
- flat (15 to 50 cents low): 11
- a little flat (4 to 15 cents low): 49
- close (within 4 cents): 26
- a little sharp (4 to 15 cents high): 2
Uprights now. Grands get the Snapshot.
Step-by-step tuning is for upright pianos: spinet, console, studio and full upright.
Grands have their own strings, wedges and lever moves, so step-by-step tuning for grands comes later. Until then, a grand gets the Snapshot and the full tuning map.
Pay for the month you tune
$19.99
for one month of coaching. It doesn’t renew.
Nothing is charged after the month ends. Buy again when you next tune. Your pianos, Snapshots and history stay either way.
- A technician’s visit (typical US price)
- about $150
- A month of TuneLever
- $19.99
Plus tools you keep, about $35 to $60, bought once.
Free, no pass needed
- The “Can I tune it?” check
- The Snapshot and tuning map for one piano
- The tool list, the first lessons and the practice drills
- A practice peg on screen, to try the moves first
- The first coached note on your own piano: A above middle C and its strings
The DIY pass adds
- The full step-by-step tuning session, with resume if you stop
- Touch-up mode for quick fixes between tunings
- Unlimited Snapshots, with before and after
- Pitch raise for pianos that have gone flat, in two passes
Started a tuning near the end of your month? You have 7 more days to finish it. Buying again adds a month to the end.
Questions
I’ve never done this. Can I really tune a piano?
Many people can, with patience and the right steps. The app assumes you know nothing yet. You practice on a peg on screen and on one note first, and it checks each move during the real tuning. If your piano isn’t one to start on, it tells you.
How long does it take?
Plan on an afternoon for a first full tuning. You can stop at any point and pick up where you left off. A touch-up of a few notes is much shorter.
Can I damage my piano?
Strings can break and pegs can be harmed by careless turning. That’s why the app makes you turn in small amounts, stops you on the wrong peg, and limits how far a pitch raise goes. Wear safety glasses while you tune.
Which pianos is it for?
Acoustic upright pianos, for step-by-step tuning. Grands get the Snapshot for now. Digital pianos never need tuning. A piano far below pitch, very old, or with rusty strings is one for a technician, and the app will say so.
What tools do I need?
A tuning lever (tuning hammer) with a #2 star tip, which fits most modern pianos, a few rubber wedges (mutes) and a felt strip (temperament strip). About $35 to $60 in all. The app’s tool list links to stores, and we may earn a small commission on what you buy there.
Does the app record me or my piano?
No. Sound is analyzed on your phone as it arrives and never recorded or uploaded. There are no ads and no tracking. The privacy policy has the details.
Do I need an account?
No. Signing in is optional. It lets you keep your pass on a new phone and back up your pianos.
Does the pass renew by itself?
No. A pass is one month and ends by itself. Nothing more is charged unless you buy another.
When can I get it?
It’s coming soon to the App Store and Google Play. Ask us to email you when it’s out.
Coming soon to the App Store and Google Play
Send us a note, and we’ll email you once when TuneLever is out. That’s the only email you’ll get.