Taking Care of your Piano

Posted by nabeelshaukat on October 13th, 2010

Investing in Piano is not an easy decision as it costs you a lot and is a big investment in your life. Taking care of piano is essential if you want to keep it for years and in good running condition. Prevention is better than cure, so you must have a preventative approach for all your instruments. You should be aware with some easy ways to take proper care of your piano. Here are some easy tips.

Cleaning the Keys:

It is strongly recommended never use any cleaning material like bleach, rubbing alcohol, or other products like these to clean the keys of your piano. They would fulfill your need for the time being but would leave long term affect on your piano keys. Almost all of these products contain ingredients that may dry out the natural oils in your piano’s keys. It is recommended that always use those cleaning solutions that are specially made for piano. Before purchasing any cleaner, check the details mentioned on it, or consult a dealer or piano technician as they can guide you better or they may recommend you cleaners from better brands. Use a damp cloth and a little amount of cleaner to wipe the keys gently. Use two different clothes for black and white keys as the dye of black keys may affect the white keys if same cloth is used. Nowadays manufactures use special plastic for Piano keys, so it is recommended to use a damp cloth to clean plastic keys.

Cleaning the Piano’s Cabinet:

Cabinet is the body of your piano and it is made with different kinds of grains, wood, and finishes. Hence, you should take care of the cabinet properly to maintain your piano in a good physical condition. You can use a soft cloth to remove dirt and dust from it. Also there are some special products made for this purpose, take recommendation from your dealer for this purpose.  

Cleaning the sound board:

Sound board is the most difficult and sensitive part of the piano to clean and requires greater care. You need to be very careful while cleaning it. Debris and dust is drawn to this part normally.  Don’t touch any string or any other thing in the soundboard; simply position your vacuum to remove debris from the vacuum hose.  If the debris has lodged tightly in the soundboard, don’t ever use a sharp thing to get it out. If your problem is still unsolved and you cannot get it out, contact your technician for help.

Ideal Temperature and Humidity:

Always house your piano in a cool place and try to prevent it from direct sunlight as it can affect the body of piano. Humidity plays an important role in the performance of the piano. High Humidity causes tuning pins and strings to rust, and keys to stick. Low Humidity causes the soundboards to crack, affects the piano’s keys sound, and causes the piano’s keys to loosen. 33-55% is the ideal humidity range for piano.