Cleaning Tips: 6:27
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Thank you for joining us for another piano video here at Merriam Pianos! In this video, instead of looking at a specific piano, Stu Harrison covers a much broader topic; how do you maintain an acoustic piano and clean your piano in your home to guarantee the maximum life span and maximum enjoyment out of the instrument. We hope you enjoy the video, and please feel free to leave us a comment!
ACOUSTIC PIANO MECHANICS:
Due to their construction consisting of primarily natural components, acoustic pianos will inevitably react to temperature, heat and humidity. Having a degree of control over these three factors is critical. For instance, maintaining the relative humidity to within the range of 35% to 55% inside the room your piano is located in will go a long way in keeping the highly complex piano action mechanism working. Materials like the wooden keystick and felt bushing are prone to warping when humidity fluctuates, which ultimately leads to sticky keys. In the winter, a floor humidifier can help, and in the summer, even just running the air conditioner is generally enough to do the trick.
Maintaining the humidity also helps in another crucial area - keeping your piano in tune. The soundboard on a piano is set to a particular angle. As the humidity goes up, the soundboard pushes up against the strings which will lead to the piano becoming sharp. If the humidity gets too dry, the soundboard will slightly shrink and pull the pitch flat.
ACOUSTIC PIANO PLACEMENT:
Another question that comes up all the time; where in my house should I place my piano? For years, it was strongly advised to ensure that your piano was not placed against an outside wall. Homes weren’t very well insulated, so this was a genuine concern. These days, most homes are very well insulated, so this isn’t really a concern anymore in the majority of cases. Another common piece of advice was to make sure your piano wasn’t placed right next to a heat source; this piece of advice still holds true. If a piano is in the same room as a heat source, an external humidity unit may be required to offset the heat source.
ACOUSTIC PIANO CLEANING:
When it comes to cleaning the cabinet your acoustic piano, you’re going to want to stay away from any conventional polishing or home cleaning solution such as Pledge, Windex etc. Instead, companies such as Cory’s and Roland offer a piano polish that will effectively clean the cabinet of your piano without damaging the finish. This being said, even a little bit of water and a damp cloth will do the trick with some elbow crease. What kind of cloth should you use with the polish or water? Just a basic micro-fibre cloth is all you need.
As far as cleaning the keys of your piano goes, again, several companies make a light solution specific for cleaning piano keys, but water and a little bit of soap on a cloth will also get the job done. While it’s not as much of a concern as it once was since ivory is no longer used to make piano keys, it’s still a good idea to keep your piano out of direct sunlight.
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