How Does Humidity Affect My Piano?
Topic Series Notes: Piano Environment
A good understanding of how humidity relates to the health of your piano has the potential of adding years of life to your piano. I believe every piano owner would benefit from reading these short articles.
Humidity Swings And Piano Parts
Everything in a piano is either made of wood or depends on wooden parts to function. Wet humid conditions swell and warps wooden parts and dry parched conditions shrinks and cracks wooden piano parts.
While high humidity badly affects a piano and low humidity badly affects a piano, even worse is swinging back and forth, which is what we have in Kansas City ~ hot humid summers and cold dry winters.
Dryness causes wood to crack, which is the most serious damage, and many times those cracks would never develop, without first going through a period of damp humid conditions.
Soundboard Pressure Ridges
Let’s take the soundboard for example:
The soundboard already has a great deal of pressure exerted on it and wet humid conditions cause it to swell, pushing the wood grain with great force the soundboard sometimes develops a “pressure ridge”. On grand pianos, you can see these pressure ridges if you lower your eye-sight to just above level with the soundboard ~ to the point where the light glares off the soundboard. Once you spot a “pressure ridge” you can run your finger across the ridge and feel it under your finger.
At this point the pressure ridge is not considered a crack and no piano manufacturer will warranty a “pressure ridge”, yet if the piano goes through a period of dryness, this is where the crack will most likely develop. “Pressure ridges” can be seen on many pianos still sitting on the dealer’s showroom floor. This is one more, of the many reasons why you should never, never, never buy a piano without having a professional piano tuner examine the piano before you buy.
Soundboard cracks usually do not cause much of a problem to the tone and overall sound of your piano unless the soundboard ribs loosen and begin to buzz and rattle. Unless there is a rattle or buzz the soundboard will still perform. (For more information on why soundboard cracks do little to harm piano tone – see this Steinway technical.)
Humidity Swings And The Piano Pinblock
Piano Pinblock
A more serious problem that may develop as a result of “humidity swings” is pin-block damage. The pinblock is what holds the tuning pins. The quality and condition of the pinblock determines the tightness of tuning pins and is one of the most important factors in tuning stability. For many manufacturers, including Steinway, the minimum specification allowed for tuning pin tightness, to pass inspection and exit the factory is only 50 inch pounds. While technicians, like myself, would like all new pianos to measure 75 to 85 inch pounds many leaves the factory with much less.
What This Means For The Piano Owner?
A piano is still tunable at 50 to 60 inch pounds, but once the pinblock loosens to the point the tightness of the tuning pins only measures 25 to 30 inch pounds, we generally consider that piano no longer a tunable piano. After a piano has gone through a few seasonal changes, it is not uncommon for the pinblock to loosen five to ten inch pounds in the first five years of service. To avoid getting stuck with one of those 50 inch pound pianos, never, never, never buy a piano without a professional piano tuner appraising the quality of the piano before you buy.
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- Piano Pinblock
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- Dry Piano Pinblock Conditions
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- Moist Piano Pinblock Conditions
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- Rusted Piano Tuning Pins and Piano Strings
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- Piano Pinblock Damage (Tuning Pins Removed)
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- Rusted Piano String Damage
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- Piano Bridge ~ Dry Conditions
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- Piano Bridge ~ Moist Conditions
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- Cracked Piano Soundboard
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- Sluggish Piano Action Resulting From High Humidity
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- Sticking Piano Keys Caused From Too Much Moisture ~ Humidity
Note: About the above “Piano Bridge” pictures ~ The piano soundboard is designed to have a crown. The image for “Dry Conditions” shows a flat soundboard which is not accurate. In dry conditions I am sure the soundboard flattens more than it should but not completely flat. The image that shows “Moist Conditions” is demonstrating too much crown ~ which is what happens in moist conditions.
What Type Of Piano Do I Own?
Topic Series Notes: Piano Value
The most popular article in this series is “Which Piano Brand is Best?” ~ the most well written and best thought out article “What is my piano worth?”, used by permission, was written by Bob Conrad of Conrad Piano Services ~ a piano owners guide to determine the value of your piano.
Do you know what type of piano you own?
When a new customer calls to schedule a piano tuning, I usually ask them what type of piano they own. While no one should ever be embarrassed because they do not know their type of piano, I put together this article to assist piano owners discover what type of piano they own. It is not an ironclad rule, but a general guide to help customers and piano owners discover their type of piano.
The piano comes in many different styles, designs, shapes and sizes and a piano tuner has to learn to service them all. Pianos have two basic categories: the vertical and horizontal pianos.
Vertical Pianos – They are called vertical pianos because of their height and the position of the strings. The height of this kind of piano range from 36 to 60 inches. There are 4 types:
 Spinet Piano ~ 36" to 39"
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 Console ~ 40" to 43"
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 Studio ~ 44" to 48"
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 Upright ~ 49" to 60"
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Grand Pianos – Also known as horizontal pianos. They are called horizontal pianos because of their length and the placement of their strings. There are 4 basic types:
 Petite Grand ~ 4'5" to 5'4"
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 Baby Grand ~ 5'6" to 6'7"
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 Semi-Concert Grand ~ 6'8" to 7'6"
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 Concert Grand ~ 9' or longer
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 Fazioli Grand ~ 10' 1/25 inches
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 Challen ~ 11'8"
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Which Piano Brand Is Best?
Topic Series Notes: Piano Value
The most popular article in this series is “Which Piano Brand is Best?” ~ the most well written and best thought out article “What is my piano worth?”, used by permission, was written by Bob Conrad of Conrad Piano Services ~ a piano owners guide to determine the value of your piano.
Which piano brand ~ manufacturer is best?
There are many different opinions about piano quality. In the end, the best piano is the one the customer gets the most pleasure – both in short and long term. Along the same thought, it depends somewhat on what the customer likes. Example: I have said before, if you like a big bass then you need to buy either a Bösendorfer or Baldwin since they have the biggest bass section. However, some would say their bass section swallows up the rest of the piano. If you like a bright sound then you need to go with a Yamaha or other bright pianos on the market.
Performing artists prefer Steinway
Steinway pianos can be voiced to be either very bright or mellow, while other bright pianos start to sound muffled if you voice them too far towards mellow tone. Steinway is top of the list for performing artists and there are many reasons performing artists prefer Steinway. That being said, Steinway gets a lot out of their name and allows their pianos to leave the factory in questionable shape when it comes to regulation and adjustment. I have also seen brand new Steinway pianos, still on the dealers floor with questionable pinblocks, etc.
Yamaha easiest to service
When I started in the piano tuning business, someone who was a big Yamaha fan, gave me their opinion the best pianos where the ones easiest to work on (an opinion that I do not necessarily agree to). Their thought was Yamaha, unlike many other well know brands, has taken the time when designing their pianos to think about the technician – that was smart. Yamaha also pays extra for all new Yamaha pianos sold to have their “preventative maintenance program” known as the “Yamaha service bond” included in the new piano service.
I do not want to be misunderstood in my next statement so let me say up front that I too like Yamaha pianos, however, if you wonder why, when asking technicians about recommendations of piano brands, that Yamaha is one of the first mentioned brands – there is the fact ~ technicians get paid more (because of the Yamaha Service Bond) to work on the easiest piano made to service – Yamaha was very smart in their marketing.
Ask your piano tuner / technician
Good technicians, and can make any brand sound like a dream piano of a lifetime by talking up their strong points or make them sound like a huge gamble – all without being dishonest, because technicians know the strong and weak points in all brands they service. So make sure you have a piano tuner / technician you trust when asking for advice about piano brands.
The most important thing when buying a new piano is to have a trusted piano tuner / technician assess the piano before you buy. If possible, it is best to have more than one piano picked out so he can inform you which one he likes best.
List of Piano Brands and Manufacturers
How Old Is My Piano?
Topic Series Notes: Piano Value
The most popular article in this series is “Which Piano Brand is Best?” ~ the most well written and best thought out article “What is my piano worth?”, used by permission, was written by Bob Conrad of Conrad Piano Services ~ a piano owners guide to determine the value of your piano.
Determine The Age of Your Piano Online
Before I can determine the age of your piano I must have the pianos serial number. Look for the serial number in the areas marked with the large red “S”.
Where to look for piano serial number
Use this form for piano age request
Piano Tuning Fee
My Price for basic tuning
A basic tuning fee ranges from $105 ~ $140 and although a basic tuning usually only takes 45 to 90 minutes, I recommend reserving two hours for complete service. Please read the following for more insight.
Piano Tuner Price Shopping
Quality is the best economy ~ Similar to other businesses, piano tuners receive phone calls from potential customers shopping for the cheapest price. I wonder if they realize the huge differences among piano tuners. While everyone enjoys a good bargain, the care of your piano should only be trusted to a skilled professional and the piano tuning fee should not be the determining factor in choosing your piano tuner.
For many, there are only three issues that shape customer’s opinion and judgment about a tuner’s service.
- The opinion of the person who recommended the technician.
- The personality of the technician.
- The price ~ fee ~ cost of service.
In regards to price, if a piano tuner / technician’s price is low, many reasons to themselves; “If he is so good why are his prices lower than my last tuner? … or lower than Aunt Susie’s tuner?”
Piano Tuning ~ There Is A Difference
The bargain-basement tuner, believing customers have a hard time distinguishing one level of piano service from another, adopts an attitude of, “Why should I spend time, money and effort improving my piano tuning and servicing skills when customers can’t tell the difference anyway?” More often than not, he underestimates his customers, and is therefore always looking for business.
Not only is that attitude unethical, but the bargain-basement tuner seems totally unaware of the “WOW” factor. When an exceptional high quality technician services a piano after following a bargain tuner and the customer sits down to play, many times the pianist responds with; “WOW, what a difference!” When given the chance to compare high quality piano tuning with low quality piano tuning the pianist can, and does tell the difference.
Customers pay thousands of dollars for their instruments and to gamble on the care of such an instrument just to avoid a small difference in tuning cost seems an unwarranted gamble.
Piano Cleaning
Professional piano cleaning
Air compressor used for cleaning pianos
Cleaning the outside cabinet of a piano can be done by the customer, but cleaning the soundboard, under the strings, around the tuning pins and inside the action can only be done by a professional. You will enjoy a clean piano after it has been cleaned by a professional.
Piano cleaning involves:
- Vacuuming as much dust and dirt as possible
- Blowing out the remaining dust with a compressor
- Pulling the action and blowing dust from action and keybed
- Wiping the soundboard with a special soundboard tool made for cleaning
- Wiping down the outside cabinet