Taking Care of your Soul mate: Useful Piano Care Tips
Your piano is your soul mate. Once you start playing it, you two
are hopelessly entwined, enjoying a world of your own, mindless
of what goes on outside your world. It is therefore absolutely
important that you take care of your piano properly.
Taking care of your piano does not only entail having it tuned
up every two to five years. It would also appreciate a daily
maintenance from the owner himself. What good would it do to a
piano if it would just be left at one corner of the house,
untouched for sometime? Absolutely nothing, and it would just
gather dust and rust.
One of the best ways to maintain its good condition is to play
it often. Just like a human being, this piece of entertainment
equipment needs exercise so as not to expire soon. Through
regular playing, you are not only practicing to become a better
pianist, you can also play and check if your piano is still in
perfect tune.
It feels great to let your fingers glide over smooth and shiny
ivory keyboards. It can't be helped though, especially when you
have little kids at home, to have little sticky hands pounding
on the keys from time to time, unless you have strict off-limits
rule on your piano. So, to keep your keyboard clean, shiny and
non-sticky, try wiping a lemon or lemon-salt paste over the keys
and then rinse with clean, wet cloth then polish with dry cloth.
Check out some of the things you must do in cleaning and taking
care of your piano:
The Keys: It is recommended to clean the keys with a light soap
solution preferably that of Ivory brand
The Cabinet: Some pianos, especially those with high-gloss
finish should be handled with utmost care. Use a new soft cloth
to wipe the cabinet. Do not use old towel converted into rags as
the rough fabric can scratch the finishing. And the small
particles, even dust can leave permanent graze over the glossy
cover. To clean, wipe a damp rag over a small portion and then
immediately wipe the area with dry cloth. The wet portion must
not be left wet for more than a minute. Repeat process until the
entire cabinet is cleaned.
To polish the cabinet it is best to use piano polish. Furniture
paste wax will do as well. An old upright piano with an old wood
finish may be cleaned with one of those new orange spray
cleaner/polisher. Do not use the usual aerosol cleaner on a
piano as it contains alcohol that will react with the finishing
or tarnish the varnish or lacquer paint on your piano surface.
You can buy specially designed piano polisher and polishing
cloth as well in most piano stores.
The piano should be positioned by the wall of the home and not
along a concrete block or floor as they can cause unstable
temperature due to dampness. Constant changing of temperature
can cause your piano to go out of tune. But the foremost cause
of the change in tune is the change in humidity.
Having a piano at home is achieving a lot of goals. Other than
it being an attraction, most of the time, visitors tend to
assume that when a homeowner has a piano in his home he is not
only musically inclined but also knows how to belong in the
elite society. It is because a piano is still seen as a
classical and very important musical instrument.