Some ways to think about pianos and what they (and their players) need:  

	Tuning is like checking the air in your car's tires.  Regulation is like rotating the tires. Your tires will last longer (and you will get better mileage) if you do both things regularly.  Get your piano tuned at least once a year, and have it regulated about every ten years, and you will be amazed at how much better you both sound!
	A new rider needs the best-behaved horse, and a new piano player needs the piano that plays and sounds the best.  Neither of them knows what they're doing, so they need all the help they can get.  Playing the piano takes hand strength and control.  It also requires training the ear and the brain to tell "right" notes from wrong ones.  A piano that works badly and is out-of-tune will not help a new player.
	If you put a frog in a saucepan of water and heat it slowly, the frog won't realize it's being cooked until it's too late....  Pianos are like that.  Almost every piano goes out of tune and regulation so gradually that you just don't realize how bad it is until after it's fixed.  Trust me, it needs to be tuned!  And it almost certainly needs to be regulated, too.  (And, no, I would never do that to a frog!)

 

The primary thing most callers want to know is "How much will it cost to tune my piano?"  That's a fair question, certainly, but all I can do is give you an estimate.  The actual cost of tuning a piano depends on many factors, including:

	length of time since last tuning
	environment
	age of the piano
	how often it is played
	general condition

For more on this answer, click here....

Once I actually see your piano, I will tell you other things about it, such as its

	age
	condition
	need for repair and/or regulation

For more on these topics, click here....

And after I check its current tuning against a calibrated electronic tuner, I will talk to you about

	pitch raise
	tuning stability
	pin block and tuning pins
	bridges
	strings

For more information about these topics, click here....

And if you tell me "My brother learned to play just fine on a piano just like this, so don't you try to con me into anything!", I'll probably point out that the piano was a lot younger when your brother learned to play. 

If we continue with our discussion, I will gladly tell you about felt and wood and how they change with age and environment.  I might show you photos such as these:

	dampers
	hammers
	miscellaneous felt
	strings
	keys