Owning and Maintaining Your First Acoustic Piano: A Guide for New Piano Owners

hint: don't place plants on top of the piano

Perhaps you’ve recently purchased your first acoustic piano or are considering making the investment. As good as digital keyboard have gotten in recent years, nothing quite compares  to the sound and feel of a good acoustic piano. Here are a few basic things to consider about owning and maintaining a piano which may come in handy.

It’s mostly wood:

  A piano is made up primarily of wood, the case, soundboard, many of the action parts. This means that changes in temperature and humidity result in the wood expanding and contracting seasonally. The single best thing you can do to extend the life of your piano is to regulate the humidity. This can be done either by installing a Dampp Chaser, a product installed into the piano which helps keep it dry in humid weather and humidifies when it senses dryness.

Another option is humidifying the room. The author suggests evaporative humidifiers, as Ultra sonic humidifiers are known to leave a white dust and more likely to rust the strings of your piano. Be sure to get a humidifier large enough to maintain the humidity in your space without needing to be refilled constantly.

Keep it sheltered:

 Being as we discussed in the first point that a piano is mostly made of wood, where you decide place the piano in your home should be considered carefully. Direct sunlight can fade the case, and a breezy area next to a door or near a window can result in your piano going out of tune faster. A center room in the house is ideal. Also consider the cost of moving your piano to the 4th floor of the house. It might be worth it if you plan to stay indefinitely, but piano movers will charge considerably more for difficult moves involving lot of stairs.  Placing the piano somewhere convenient for the movers is in your best interest financially.

Connect with a Tech:

 Depending on your area there may be  a healthy amount of qualified piano technicians, or they may be scarce. The best resource to find a RPT (registered piano technician) is by searching in your area code on the RPT site: https://portal.ptg.org/technician/find

 Regular tuning and maintenance will keep your piano playing and sounding good, and also help protect the value of your investment. It’s recommended to have your piano tuned and serviced a minimum of twice yearly. Find someone you trust in your area and get on a regular maintenance  schedule. Just as you would with your car or your dentist, this prevents you waiting until a problem arises. Many good piano technicians in  metropolitan areas book weeks to months ahead.

While it may seem a lot to consider in making this purchase, it’s important to remember that a well maintained piano can last decades or even a lifetime. Hopefully the instrument you decide upon will inspire learning and bring music to your household, for which you cant place a dollar amount on.