Basic Piano Care ~ Where Do I Begin?
From the Piano Technicians Guild:
A Lifetime Of Enjoyment
A piano brings a lifetime of enjoyment to you and your family. As you might expect with any investment of this size, a piano requires periodic servicing to provide outstanding performance year after year. But to understand what maintenance is required, it’s important to understand the nature of the piano.
The beautiful, natural sound of a piano is due to the remarkable blending of such materials as wood, metal, buckskin, and wool. Together they create a uniquely timeless sound that no other instrument in the world can duplicate. While electronic synthesizers may approximate the sound of an acoustic piano, they cannot approach the true beauty of the real thing.
Pianos are peculiar in the sense the more often they are tuned, the longer they stay in tune. And conversely, the less often they’re tuned, the faster they go out of tune. Thus a piano that’s not been tuned for many years will usually not hold the first tuning as long as a piano that has been tuned on a regular basis.
Schedule Your Piano Tuner Regularly
Keep your piano in tune so you can enjoy the full potential of your piano. ( Piano Manufacturers Recomendations ) It was specifically designed to be tuned to the international pitch standard of A-440 cycles per second. Your piano will sound its best and give you and your family the most pleasure when it is tuned regularly and kept in proper playing condition.
Protect Your Piano From Dust
Keep your piano clean. Keep the keyboard covered when not in use to prevent dust from accumulating. Clean keys by occasionally wiping them with a damp cloth and drying them immediately. If accumulated debris cannot be removed with a damp cloth, try wiping the cloth on a bar of mild soap or moisten with dishwasher detergent before wiping. Do not use chemicals or solvents to clean piano keys. Call a qualified piano technician to remove anything from the keys you cannot wipe away.
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How often should a piano be tuned?
The following is offered as a piano tuning guide. After all, who would know better, when you should tune your piano than the people who make pianos?
Piano Manufacturers Recommend…
Steinway & Sons
Humidity Affects Piano Tuning
… Unfortunately, no matter how expertly a piano is tuned, atmospheric variations, particularly humidity, and the nature of the piano’s construction constantly conspire to bring it off pitch.
Steinway Recommendations For Piano Tuning
Your Steinway piano has been designed and built so that in normal use and under normal conditions it should need only periodic tuning. We recommend that your tuner be called at least 3 or 4 times a year. You, however, are the final judge and should have the piano tuned as often as you think necessary. To put the matter of tuning into perspective, remember that a concert piano is tuned before every performance and a piano in a professional recording studio, where it is in constant use, is tuned 3 or 4 times each week as a matter of course.
Baldwin
New Pianos Need More Frequent Tuning
In the first year, … have your piano tuned four times. This is a period of environmental adjustment for a new instrument and proper attention is important.
After the first year, the piano should be tuned at least twice each year depending upon the frequency of use and atmospheric conditions. … arrange for a reputable technician to service your piano regularly.
Yamaha Piano
The Importance Of Regular Piano Tuning
Why schedule regular service? … Regular service will keep your piano’s performance (and your enjoyment) at its peak level. It will also correct “progressive” problems early, before they turn into costly repairs. For these reasons Yamaha strongly recommends that you adopt a schedule of regular service for your piano.
Your Piano Tuner Should Be Scheduled At Least Twice A Year
… The strings need to be tuned a minimum of twice a year to restore them to their proper tension.
Boesendorfer Piano
Bosendorder Recommends Calling Your Piano Tuner 2 or 3 Times A Year
Climatic factors such as temperature or humidity changes may cause the precise tuning of your piano to vary. Also naturally over time the tuning will alter due to the tensions the strings are constantly under.
If your piano receives normal use, we advise you to have your instrument tuned 2 or 3 times a year. Instruments which are being used more frequently, such as concert halls and recording studios, are being tuned before each concert or recording session.
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