Your piano is a beautiful piece of furniture that you’ll want to take really good care of, especially since it’s probably one of the items in your home you paid the most money for. As such, you’ll want to protect this investment. Another great reason to want to protect it is that music effects your entire household’s emotional well-being. Unfortunately, if you don’t take care of your investment here by tuning and regulating it, you’ll lose your investment.
Why Play Your Instrument Frequently
Typically, these instruments have a long lifespan. Abuse, not use, is what’s usually responsible for its deterioration. This is because the inner mechanism is very sensitive. This is what makes the engineering here so marvelous. Although its inner parts are sturdy and designed to withstand the test of time and the hardest blows your fingers can deliver, they must be in good condition to one another and overall for this to happen. Here’s a great reason to play your new piano as often as possible. By doing so you’ll appreciate its great craftsmanship and artistry.
Where to Place Your new Piano
As long as your home is well insulated, you can place your piano against any wall there. You don’t want to place it in direct sunlight or near an air vent though. Once there, try to keep your room between 72°F – 75°F. Keep the humidity in the room between 40% – 50%. This is important because excessive dryness or humidity will harm your instrument in several ways:
- Your soundboard and cabinet components will be damaged.
- The pinblock’s glue joints will grow weak.
- Rust will form on the strings.
- The soundboard and its active parts will swell making the keys sluggish and sticky.
No piano is immune to these issues. These things will result in costly repairs.
How to Move Your Instrument
Different types of pianos need to be moved differently. For instance:
- Vertical pianos with legs that aren’t attached to its main cabinet should be lifted off its front casters and rolled on its rear casters.
- Upright pianos with legs attached to a toe block can be rolled on all four casters.
- Grand pianos should be lifted and carried, not rolled.
Every piano is really heavy and could leave imprints on your floor. This is why you should have someone who’s qualified and bonded move it for you. Someone who’s inexperienced could use the wrong equipment and cause serious damage.
Tuning Your Instrument
You also need to tune your piano, which simply means bringing each string to its proper tension. With about 230 separate strings, each with 160 – 200 pounds of tension, this is a big job since each string must vibrate 440 cycles per second. Even if your piano is just ½ step below pitch you could be dealing with 3,000 – 5,000 pounds of tension. This is what technicians mean when they mention that your piano needs a “pitch raise.”
Now that you have a solid understanding of how to care for your new instrument, you should stop by Dave’s Piano Showroom. Here you’ll find a great choice of pianos to choose from, including one that will make a great new addition to your home.
Image credit: Hallet Davis