Comparison of Piano Tuning Lever Tips - Internal Taper - Wobble Test

Piano tuning pins have four flat sides that slope slightly in toward the center like a pyramid. The internal taper of a tuning lever's tip should match the taper of the tuning pins so it doesn't wobble or damage the pins. Unfortunately, not all tuning levers have the right amount of taper. In this video I compare several different levers using a #2 tuning pin. I found that the more expensive American and Japanese-made tuning levers have tips whose taper closely matches the taper of typical tuning pins, while the cheaper Chinese-made levers don't have enough taper, so they wobble on the pin.

This first lever is a Fujan carbon fiber lever that (as of 2025) costs about $375. There's very little wobble when I try to move the tuning pin.

The next is a Yamaha tuning lever that cost about $150. It fits this tuning pin better than any other lever I tried. This class of lever is what many professional piano tuners use.

Next is an older Hale extension lever that's in the same class and price range as the Yamaha. It has a Schaff tip that fits the pin well.

Next is a Schaff/AMS student lever that costs about $50. Many tuners will start with something like this before upgrading to something nicer.

Next is a Chinese-made lever (brand name: "Yaetek") with poor pin-to-tip fit that I bought on Amazon for about $27. It looks a lot like the Yamaha, but the quality is much lower.

Next is the best-selling tuning lever on Amazon (brand name: Tadyao") that I got for about $23. It has the same tip as the previous lever, and it fits the tuning pin poorly.

Last of all is the cheapest tuning lever I could find anywhere. The tip has a square hole instead of star, and it has zero internal taper. If it doesn't break first, it will damage the tuning pins by rounding off their shoulders in the small area where it actually connects with the pin.

I bought all these tuning levers myself and did not receive any compensation, sponsorship, or other incentives from tuning lever manufactures or retailers.