Tuning and Tuning Hammers

  Early keyboard Instruments, whether originals or replicas, do require more frequent tuning than modern iron-framed pianos.   The costs of professional tunings do mount up, and it can be a problem finding a tuner who is happy to work with our ancient instruments.  For this and other reasons, most of us do our own tuning.   To offer some help to those thinking of having a go, I have prepared a short PDF guide.  

It is very important to have a properly-fitting tuning hammer, which should bear on a good portion of the two flat faces of the wrestpin (tuning-pin).  If the fit is too sloppy, the corners of the pin and the socket of the tuning hammer will be damaged, and the backlash makes accurate tuning difficult anyway.  It it is too small, it will grip the top of the pin only, with the same result.

I can offer a limited number of hand-made hammers tailored to your own pins, either directly or via a template.  Please see further down the page for details.  EU Update: It seems that it is now possible to send my tuning hammers to EU countries.  As from 1 November 2026, the EU have changed the rules - again...  Small imports are now subject to a handling charge of €2, in addition to a minimum customs charge of €3.  But the good news is that there now seems to be an option for 'Made it Yourself' in which case it is apparently no longer necessary for me to have an agent within the EU .  I can pay these charges when preparing the despatch label, but I will add the cost to the price.  

I have recently made some hammers with brass stems rather than steel.  Brass is a softer metal, of course, and so these are really only suitable for harpsichords and early pianos with well-fitted pins, and not for removing any that are seized-up!  But I think they are much prettier, and I have been using them on my own instruments for a while now.  Subject to this caution, I now feel happy to offer them as an alternative. The handles below are in Indian Rosewood (left), African Blackwood  (right) and Cocobolo (Broadwood special lopsided).  

Also available - a long-reach version, see picture below.  We have recently restored a clavicytherium, where the proximity of the pins to the keys makes using a conventional hammer difficult.  This style could also be useful for adjusting the set-off on English grands.

Please note that these hammers are suitable for original style oblong-headed pins, and for early instruments with relatively light stringing. 

It is best to fit the hammer directly to a sample pin, but if it is not convenient to remove one, the data can be summarised by measuring accurately (to within 0.1 mm - use a micrometer or caliper gauge) the three dimensions indicated in the sketch below. Please measure about

1 mm below the very top, as the corners are sometimes rounded off.

I offer a choice of decorative woods for the handle - this is useful if you have more than one hammer.  

The price is £60 including UK postage, £65 to EU countries to pay charges.

If you are interested, please send an email to David   on friends.sp@btinternet.com