You say, "Clean my piano? Why? It's kept closed all the time."
While keeping your piano closed up all the time will help considerably, a piano will still collect a lot of dust and dirt over time and it will eventually need to be cleaned out to free up the working mechanisms of the piano. The fact remains that a vast majority of pianos have not been kept closed up all the time and have been collecting dirt for ages. Many old uprights have never been cleaned in their 80 to 100 years, and it shows when I go to service them! Grands are often left with their lids up for looks, and dust and dirt will quickly collect on all the horizontal surfaces. Though not at the forefront of every piano owner's minds, piano cleaning is important and necessary to the health of your instrument.
Piano owners normally limit their piano cleaning to just the piano case and all the visible exterior parts. Many piano owners that have called me for the first time to tune their piano comment when I open it up for service that they have never even seen the inside of their piano. That either means they never have it tuned, or the previous tuners just tuned and didn't do much in the way of repair, regulating, or cleaning services. Many tuners don't even take the time to take off the bottom board of an upright to inspect the bridges, or to even adjust the pedals which is often necessary. When I take the bottom board off an upright, I often hear groans from the onlooking customer, embarrassed that such filth could be in "their" piano...even in the nicest, well-kept homes! Owners of grand pianos will often keep their piano case parts clean, but will usually stop short when it comes to the mysterious area around the pinblock, dampers, and under the strings. And, mostly, for good reason.
Every piano gradually collects years of dust and grit inside the piano in places where the piano owner rarely, if ever, will see. The dust and grit eventually works its way down into all the little nooks and crannies of the piano where all the working mechanisms of the piano are, and it can lead to premature wear and eventually to serious, and costly, mechanical problems. It is really common to find paper clips, coins, can pull tabs, stamps, stickers, bobby pins, straight pins, rubberbands, pencils, and other foreign objects under the keys and amidst the action's working parts, especially in homes where there are small children...or if the piano once resided in a home with small children. A single pencil can cause 5 or 6 keys to jam if it gets lodged in the wrong places. When the jammed key is pressed, small wooden parts inside can break.Mouse nests and their droppings can jam up the action and cause trouble. Debris in a piano can sometimes lead to hundreds of dollars in repairs down the road if not removed before permanent damage is done.
Your piano will only work as freely as it was designed to if it is clean and free of such debris.
Because of all the fragile parts in a piano, it is not recommended for the piano owner to attempt to clean the inside of their piano. Water and chemicals, etc. can be corrosive to the fragile metal parts of the piano. Sprays containing oils can cause pinblock damage which will lead to slipping tuning pins. Even dusting and vacuuming can cause serious problems if any of the thousands of fragile parts are bumped, snagged, mishandled, broken, misplaced, or accidentally sucked up in the vacuum cleaner. Cleaning the piano's interior is best left to the professional piano technician.
If your piano hasn't been cleaned in several years (or ever in many cases) it could greatly benefit by having a complete cleaning. Almost inevitably, you will notice a difference in how your piano plays and sounds just by having it thoroughly cleaned.
If you would like to schedule tuning and/or cleaning services for your piano, give us a call today at (417) 294-3377.
You say, "Clean my piano? Why? It's kept closed all the time."
While keeping your piano closed up all the time will help considerably, a piano will still collect a lot of dust and dirt over time and it will eventually need to be cleaned out to free up the working mechanisms of the piano. The fact remains that a vast majority of pianos have not been kept closed up all the time and have been collecting dirt for ages. Many old uprights have never been cleaned in their 80 to 100 years, and it shows when I go to service them! Grands are often left with their lids up for looks, and dust and dirt will quickly collect on all the horizontal surfaces. Though not at the forefront of every piano owner's minds, piano cleaning is important and necessary to the health of your instrument.
Piano owners normally limit their piano cleaning to just the piano case and all the visible exterior parts. Many piano owners that have called me for the first time to tune their piano comment when I open it up for service that they have never even seen the inside of their piano. That either means they never have it tuned, or the previous tuners just tuned and didn't do much in the way of repair, regulating, or cleaning services. Many tuners don't even take the time to take off the bottom board of an upright to inspect the bridges, or to even adjust the pedals which is often necessary. When I take the bottom board off an upright, I often hear groans from the onlooking customer, embarrassed that such filth could be in "their" piano...even in the nicest, well-kept homes! Owners of grand pianos will often keep their piano case parts clean, but will usually stop short when it comes to the mysterious area around the pinblock, dampers, and under the strings. And, mostly, for good reason.
Every piano gradually collects years of dust and grit inside the piano in places where the piano owner rarely, if ever, will see. The dust and grit eventually works its way down into all the little nooks and crannies of the piano where all the working mechanisms of the piano are, and it can lead to premature wear and eventually to serious, and costly, mechanical problems. It is really common to find paper clips, coins, can pull tabs, stamps, stickers, bobby pins, straight pins, rubberbands, pencils, and other foreign objects under the keys and amidst the action's working parts, especially in homes where there are small children...or if the piano once resided in a home with small children. A single pencil can cause 5 or 6 keys to jam if it gets lodged in the wrong places. When the jammed key is pressed, small wooden parts inside can break. Mouse nests and their droppings can jam up the action and cause trouble. Debris in a piano can sometimes lead to hundreds of dollars in repairs down the road if not removed before permanent damage is done.
Your piano will only work as freely as it was designed to if it is clean and free of such debris.
Because of all the fragile parts in a piano, it is not recommended for the piano owner to attempt to clean the inside of their piano. Water and chemicals, etc. can be corrosive to the fragile metal parts of the piano. Sprays containing oils can cause pinblock damage which will lead to slipping tuning pins. Even dusting and vacuuming can cause serious problems if any of the thousands of fragile parts are bumped, snagged, mishandled, broken, misplaced, or accidentally sucked up in the vacuum cleaner. Cleaning the piano's interior is best left to the professional piano technician.
If your piano hasn't been cleaned in several years (or ever in many cases) it could greatly benefit by having a complete cleaning. Almost inevitably, you will notice a difference in how your piano plays and sounds just by having it thoroughly cleaned.
If you would like to schedule service for your piano that includes a professional cleaning, give us a call today at (573) 765-9903.
