Piano placement is a concern of most piano owners. A few basic rules need to observe when deciding where to place the piano in your home. In order to decide the best place to position your piano, you need to know where NOT to put it. Pianos are sensitive to their environments (temperature and humidity). A little thought to its location will help to protect your piano for years to come.
About 70% of your piano is wood, which even though it has been carefully selected and dried, is still “alive,” so to speak. It’s very important to achieve a constant temperature. Constant fluctuation in humidity is definitely bad for your piano’s health. This causes many problems for your piano including: Inconsistency stay in tune, sluggish and sticking keys, slow hammers and dampers, swelling key lead and expanding felts. This excessive humidity can even cause tuning pins, bridge pins and strings to rust.
Exposure to direct sunlight coming through a window can be a problem for your piano. Apart from disturbing the humidity level in your piano, direct sunshine is the cause of another serious issue, will bleach the wood and ruin the piano’s finish and it will cause fluctuations and instability in the piano leading to more frequent tuning. Solution: keep your piano away from windows that let sunlight through, or using sheer curtains on the windows.
Keep your piano as far away from a radiator, stove, or electric heater as possible. The heat will ruin the piano by drying out the glue used in the case and action.
Adhere to the following recommendation which will help you minimize wear and tear and help you keep your piano in optimum condition.
About 70% of your piano is wood, which even though it has been carefully selected and dried, is still “alive,” so to speak. It’s very important to achieve a constant temperature. Constant fluctuation in humidity is definitely bad for your piano’s health. This causes many problems for your piano including: Inconsistency stay in tune, sluggish and sticking keys, slow hammers and dampers, swelling key lead and expanding felts. This excessive humidity can even cause tuning pins, bridge pins and strings to rust.
Exposure to direct sunlight coming through a window can be a problem for your piano. Apart from disturbing the humidity level in your piano, direct sunshine is the cause of another serious issue, will bleach the wood and ruin the piano’s finish and it will cause fluctuations and instability in the piano leading to more frequent tuning. Solution: keep your piano away from windows that let sunlight through, or using sheer curtains on the windows.
Keep your piano as far away from a radiator, stove, or electric heater as possible. The heat will ruin the piano by drying out the glue used in the case and action.
Adhere to the following recommendation which will help you minimize wear and tear and help you keep your piano in optimum condition.
- Locate your piano against an inside wall.
- Keep your piano out of direct sunlight.
- Keep your piano away from drafts, heat sources and air conditioning vents.
- Keep your piano as far as possible from any fireplace or wood-burning stove. (Fire sucks moisture out of the air and your piano will have cracked soundboard)
- Inconsistency in environment; like open kitchen, laundry room, bathroom.
To summarize
Ideally, a piano should be kept in a room with temperature around 70°( ± 5°) and relative humidity factor around 50% (±5%). The exact temperature and humidity is not as important as keeping as little fluctuation as possible. Excessive dryness and extreme humidity are both harmful to the piano.
Excessive dryness reduces the moisture content of the soundboard and cabinet components, and can weaken the glue joints of the pinblock.
Dampness can cause rust to form on the strings, swelling to the soundboard and action parts, which then causes sluggish and/or sticking keys.
If you can't find a suitable location, have a climate control system installed in the instrument itself. These units can greatly improve tuning stability and other climate-related problems where it's not practical to control the environment of the entire house.
Ideally, a piano should be kept in a room with temperature around 70°( ± 5°) and relative humidity factor around 50% (±5%). The exact temperature and humidity is not as important as keeping as little fluctuation as possible. Excessive dryness and extreme humidity are both harmful to the piano.
Excessive dryness reduces the moisture content of the soundboard and cabinet components, and can weaken the glue joints of the pinblock.
Dampness can cause rust to form on the strings, swelling to the soundboard and action parts, which then causes sluggish and/or sticking keys.
If you can't find a suitable location, have a climate control system installed in the instrument itself. These units can greatly improve tuning stability and other climate-related problems where it's not practical to control the environment of the entire house.
