Piano Care and Maintenance
Did you know that a piano can have up to 12,000 moving parts? It’s true. Not only that, but many of those parts are moving parts. And if you want your piano to stay in good working order, it needs a little bit of maintenance to stay its best.
During the first year of a piano’s life it’s suggested to have it serviced two to four times. Then talk to your piano technician to decide what frequency to continue service at. Usually twice a year after the first year is recommended, but sometimes once a year is enough. Servicing includes having the piano tuned, regulated as needed, voiced as needed, and eventually having worn parts repaired or replaced as needed.
Tuning is the part that just about any piano owner is familiar with and many know how bad an out of tune piano sounds. Each piano has over 200 strings so it can be a bit of a process to make sure each is in pitch, but the sound quality improvement you get is immense.
How does a piano go out of tune in the first place? The most common cause is humidity changes. It’s recommended that you don’t get your piano tuned right after the humidity has changed or the tune will only hold a couple months.
Regulation is the adjustment of the mechanical aspects of the pianos because the cloth parts compact and settle, and the piano changes dimension somewhat due to changes in humidity. Uneven keys and keys that stick are signs that a piano needs to be regulated. The frequency of regulation needed for a piano varies according to how much the piano is used along with the climate it’s kept in.
Voicing a piano is an adjustment of the tone of your piano. As you use your piano, hammers wear and compact and some notes will become too harsh. At this point, your piano needs to be voiced. Most people find that their piano needs to be voiced every 1-5 years, depending on how much use your piano receives.
Of course there’s more to piano care than just the inner guts of the piano. There’s an exterior of your piano and it requires a bit of care too. Most people can handle keeping their piano clean, but one thing to remember is that using furniture polish on a good piano is a big no no.
Your piano will also need to be reconditioned occasionally. Some parts will get worn out from use and will need to be replaced.
The step beyond reconditioning is rebuilding. This is a very labor intensive process and also quite expensive, but caring for your piano can help you avoid the expense of a full rebuild.
Keep in mind that a piano is an investment, and that a well maintained piano can actually increase in value over its life.