Piano Care Tips
You should always use professionals to move and tune your piano. In the interim, there are some ways you can look after your piano to keep it looking and sounding beautiful.
- Keep the room well ventilated, with the temperature and humidity levels as consistent as possible
- Ensure your piano is not placed in direct sunlight
- Keep your piano dust free. To avoid scratching the piano, remove dust with a slightly damp, soft cloth.
- Prevent unauthorised use and teach youngsters to treat the piano with care, especially pedals and closing lids
- Do not place items on top of the piano, especially liquids!
Professional Piano Care Explained
Tuning
To look after your piano, it is recommended that it be tuned twice yearly or at least once yearly, in your home by a qualified tuner. Your tuner will be happy to advise you on maintenance, servicing and also on multiple tunings for pianos used for teaching, stringent practice or highly frequent use.
Advising your tuner thoroughly of any concerns means attending to items as they occur, thus ensuring your piano plays beautifully.
Voicing
Each piano has its own distinct sound or “voice”. This is the character of the sound. However over time, whilst the piano is played, the hammer felt strikes the strings thus compacting and wearing down the felt. This hardening can cause the tone to become too harsh or bright, and it’s difficult to produce a wide or even range of expression, no matter how much you try to play using dynamics. In other situations, the piano may seem too dull or lifeless.
Voicing is a personal choice. A piano must first be finely tuned and regulated before it can be voiced. Please discuss with your tuner, taking into consideration the age and potential of your instrument.
Adjustments & Repair
Items such as adjustments to fixing sticky or sluggish keys, adjusting pedal mechanism and replacement of broken strings, are part of your maintenance and can be attended to by your tuner. Please give your tuner all the information possible when booking. A second visit may be required.
For major repairs, we recommend you book a tuner to provide a report and quotation first.
Regulation
The inner playing mechanism, called the “action” of a piano, is an amazingly complex and sensitive machine. Like any other machine, it needs to be kept in adjustment so that it works well. Each key on your piano has over 25 points of adjustment that work together to produce the sound you hear when you play just one note.
In order to compensate for wear, compacting of cloth and felt, and changes in wooden parts due to humidity, periodic adjustments must be made. Keeping the correct relationship between every part will prevent unnecessary wear, and will make the action “feel right”. That is, each key will function smoothly and evenly throughout the whole keyboard.
Bernies Music Land recommends that regulation is conducted as part of your piano’s service every three to five years.
Book Your Piano in with a Schimmel Approved Technician for Servicing
To book tuning, voicing, regulation or repairs, please call your local authorised Schimmel piano retailer, or fill in our enquiry form and we will arrange for one of our recommended piano technicians to contact you.