Piano and Music Videos

Some people look at fingerprints on a piano with a high gloss finish and think they will never be able to keep it clean. Interestingly, in many ways a high gloss finish is easier to care for than a satin finish. How can this be? The difference is simple. A high gloss finish on pianos is generally a polyester finish. It is a totally sealed finish. You can actually clean it with Windex without damaging it believe it or not! Be sure to use a soft cotton cloth. You never want to use anything that has any fibers in it because as robust as high gloss finishes are, certain things can mess them up very quickly.

For example, if you take a music book and toss it on the piano making it spin, you’ll notice little tiny hairline scratches on the finish just from tossing the book on the piano. Polyester finishes were first introduced in this country from Asian Manufacturers at the NAMM music trade show. To demonstrate how robust they are, they set a piano on fire! The downside of high gloss finishes is that if they’re damaged, very few people know how to repair them. However, they are generally very strong finishes unless a metal object hits them. Hairline scratches can be buffed out by a professional furniture person if they’re not too deep.

Satin Finishes

Satin finishes are somewhat porous finishes which are hand-rubbed. They have multi-layers of lacquer, yet they’re still open finishes. You’ll see fingerprints in the finish and may wonder how to polish them out. You do not want to use cleaning products like pledge because they leave a wax residue which can build up over time and must be professionally removed. There are some piano polishes which are specifically designed for satin or high gloss piano finishes which won’t damage the piano. General furniture polishes are not advisable on pianos.

How do you clean a satin finish? It’s really simple: you take a soft cotton cloth and rub it in the direction of the grain of the finish. If there are persistent blemishes from dirty hands or even just the natural oils in your skin, take a slightly damp cloth and rub it in the direction of the grain of the finish. You should be able to get rid of all the fingerprints so long as there is nothing embedded in there or if it got dented by a sharp object.

This is one of the most common questions we get asked. You might think how fickle some musical instruments can be with tuning and assume that a piano would probably have to be tuned after it’s moved because of the potential stress the strings exert on the structure.

Conventional wisdom states that you would need to tune a piano after it’s moved; some people might even insist on tuning a piano if you roll it across a room. Is this really the case?

Pianos are much more robust than many people might imagine. After all, pianos used to be transported across the country on horse and buggy, they are very rugged instruments and a simple move across a room or even across town is not going to necessarily knock it out of tune. It would take a tremendous amount of force to knock a piano out of tune just by moving it.

For longer moves – let’s say across the country or hundreds of miles – unless the piano is shipped in a climate controlled truck it could possibly need to be tuned once it arrives at it’s new location. The move itself is not what will make the piano go out of tune however, it’s something much more important.

The climate of the room where a piano is kept is the determining factor in whether or not a piano will have to be tuned once it’s moved. Pianos need a stable environment in order to stay in tune and unless you are moving a piano in a climate controlled truck it may need to be tuned once it reaches its destination and becomes settled to it’s new home. Just moving a piano across town will probably not make the piano go out tune as long as the climate in your home is similar to the climate where the piano was previously. So how long should you wait before you decide to tune the piano after a move?

I always recommend letting a piano sit in it’s new location for at least a couple of weeks before performing its first tuning in its new location unless there are some issues with the piano that need to be addressed sooner. This will give the piano time to settle and acclimate to it’s new home. You shouldn’t wait too long after a move to tune your piano though as there is a potential danger to be aware of.

Can you clean your Piano? You absolutely can! I have various videos such as how to clean piano keys as well as cleaning various piano finishes. Most people want to know how to clean the inside of their pianos. Well, how do you get in there? The strings are in the way! You can try blowing it out with a vacuum, but if it is really dusty that could make a mess and you’re probably not going to get all of the dirt out anyway.

The secret is to ask your piano tuner. They have a tool that is designed for the purpose of cleaning the inside of pianos. The way it works is very simple. The entire action of the piano comes out as one unit and there’s a gap between the strings and the key bed where they can get in with a tool in order to clean everything out. They are able to get all the dust off the soundboard and make everything beautiful again.

If the strings are rusted, the piano may need to be restrung. However, if the strings have light corrosion, a skilled technician can use a very fine steel wool and clean the strings to get them shiny which will help enhance the tone as well as the look of your piano.

Cleaning the inside of your piano is not something that you want to undertake yourself because pulling an action requires special skill. If you’re not careful you can easily break off hammers. If your tuner is already out there tuning your piano, they probably won’t charge a lot to clean your piano since they are there anyway. Be sure to let them know beforehand so they bring the proper tools and have the extra time to perform that job for you. Hope this has been helpful for you! You can always reach us at Robert@LivingPianos.com.

This question comes from one of our viewers Elizabeth from Cozumel in the Caribbean.

She asks, “What can I do about the extreme humidity where I live?” when it comes to her piano.

There are several things you can do to help alleviate the problem of humidity or climate when it comes to the life of your piano.

Buy a Dehumidifier

Install the dehumidifier and make sure that you keep all the windows closed.

You can also use Air Conditioning to do pretty much the same thing.

However, if you are living near the beach or somewhere where you want to enjoy the elements, you might have second thoughts about keeping your windows closed. After all, you have to balance the enjoyment of your life with the longevity of your piano.

But is there anything you can do other than close everything up? Sure.

Close Your Piano at Night

At nighttime when the marine layer comes in, that is the worst time of day for your piano.

This shouldn’t just be something you do if you live near the beach either. Generally, closing your piano at night is a great idea to prolong the life of the instrument.

Buy a String Cover

With excessive humidity it might be a good idea to buy a string cover.

This is a piece of felt that will match the shape of the inside of your piano. It will cover the strings and protect them from humidity without affecting the sound too much.

Put a Cover over the Entire Piano

If you want to protect the piano even more, you can close the entire piano and put a cover over it to prolong the life of the instrument.

But if you want the enjoyment of having your piano open a good deal of the time and still protecting it, there is one thing that might be the right solution for you.

Install a Dampp Chaser System

This is a very interesting way to prolong the life of your piano and still be able to enjoy it’s beauty without having to close it or cover it.

This technology puts heating rods beneath the piano with a humidistat. Whenever the humidity gets above a certain level, the heating rods will become hot.

This will help to keep your soundboard stable and will make tuning more stable over time.

Bottom line, just make sure that no matter what you do to prolong the life your piano, you are able to get the enjoyment out of it that you want.

Tuning a piano cost different amounts in various regions. Some remote places have no piano technicians! So, when tuners come through, they are in incredible demand and command high rates for tuning. In metropolitan areas with lots of tuners, the going rate is usually around $100-150 – some areas are higher than others. And top-notch concert level tuners can cost substantially more.

But this is only half the story! Because it also depends upon several other factors:

– How often the piano is tuned

– How much the piano is played

– Stability of the environment

– Quality of the piano

Pianos that are played a great deal such as in schools or pianos owned by serious players who practice a lot will require much more tuning than pianos that are not played much.
A place that has wide swings of temperature and humidity will cause a piano to become out of tune more readily than in a more stable environment.

A higher quality piano will hold its tuning longer than a lower quality piano. Newer pianos and newly rebuilt pianos will also require more tuning and adjustment as strings stretch and the piano settles.

So, there is much to be considered when servicing your piano. There is almost always at least some additional adjustments necessary when getting your piano tuned. So the cost of having a piano technician visit can vary a great deal. $100-$150 would be an ideal amount to spend if you have a high quality, broken in piano tuned on a regular basis, kept in a stable environment and played minimally. In most instances, the cost will be greater.