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Caring for Your
Steinway Piano or Any Piano
Your piano is a significant investment, and you want to ensure you can enjoy it for many years. We offer the following recommendations to maintain the health and beauty of your piano.
Maintain Appropriate Humidity
Humidity regulation is one of the most critical ways to ensure your piano's long life. Year-round sudden or constant humidity fluctuations cause your piano's soundboard, felts, and other wood parts to swell and contract. The result can be cracks in the soundboard or changes in tuning and regulation.
Maintaining a relative humidity between 40% and 65% is appropriate for most instruments, depending on the region's climate; however, rapid and frequent humidity changes can still damage a piano, even if they occur within those parameters.
We recommend several options to maintain a consistent relative humidity.
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Humidifier. A humidifier will infuse your piano's environment with moisture that room heaters and HVAC systems deplete during the cold and dry winter months. Most humidifiers and some HVAC units have a built-in hydrometer that you can set to maintain the desired humidity level.
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De-humidifier. During hot and humid seasons, you may need to remove moisture from the air. In this case, your air conditioning unit can work alongside a programmable portable de-humidifier that can regulate the humidity. Alternatively, if your HVAC system has built-in humidity control, you can set the desired humidity level.
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Dampp-Chaser. It is possible to install a self-regulating Dampp-Chaser Piano Life-Saver unit under the soundboard of a grand piano and inside the case of an upright piano. This device primarily regulates the humidity around the grand piano's soundboard. In an upright piano, it can maintain the humidity level for the entire interior. This option is best-suited when humidity control is unreliable, but it is not as effective as full-room humidity control.
Maintain Temperature
A temperature above 90 degrees Fahrenheit or below 40 degrees Fahrenheit might severely damage your piano. The ideal temperature for a piano is similar to the one which is comfortable for you. It is best to maintain a temperature of about 70 degrees Fahrenheit, plus or minus five degrees for your piano's safest conditions.
Schedule Tunings
Most pianos require tuning twice per year; however, a newly rebuilt piano may require up to four tunings because its strings are still flexible. Increasing the frequency of tunings may be necessary if a piano is heavily played. If possible, it is best to wait a few weeks after delivery before tuning a piano because the instrument will gradually go out of tune as it adjusts to its new environment.
Schedule Regulation and Voicing
Regulation makes each key up and down the keyboard feel the same when it is depressed. Over time, regular playing can cause subtle changes to the relative position of action, necessitating regulation to make each key up and down the keyboard feel the same when it is depressed.
Voicing also may be required to even out a piano's tone. With repeated playing, hammer felts become packed down and, therefore, denser. Opening the space between the hammer felt fibers with a fine needle softens the tone. A seasoned technician who understands the proportion and design of individual keys is best-suited to undertake this process every few years or as often as needed depending on the frequency of playing.
Choose the Best Room Placement
Keeping your piano near a window or direct source of sunlight will wreak havoc on its finish and overheat its interior. It is also critical to keep a piano away from heat sources, including fireplaces, space heaters, radiators and other sources of heat. Place a grand piano with its lid opening into a room and an upright piano a few inches away from a wall for the best sound.
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Keeping Your Piano Clean
Knowing how to clean your piano can help preserve its beauty and keep it sanitary after playing.
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Clean the furniture and keys. Keep your piano's exterior and key covers free from dust or hand oils using a slightly damp, lint-free soft cotton t-shirt. Never use commercial cleaning formulas and polishes or apply water directly to the instrument or rub in a circular motion as this could leave behind hairline scratches.
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Keep the surface clutter-free. Avoid keeping items, including frames, pens, candlesticks and other objects on your piano to prevent them from falling inside the piano or damaging its furniture.
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Clean the interior. A lambswool duster can gently clean your piano's interior plate, but it is best to ask a professional technician to undertake a thorough interior cleaning. Always avoid touching your piano's copper bass strings to prevent their corrosion from hand oils.
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Cantabile Harrison Pianos will gladly advise you about maintaining your piano to keep it feeling, sounding and looking its best.