Home Maintenance 101

CLEANING MY PIANO:

FINISHES:

Today’s pianos come with many varieties of finish. Each has its own “best” solution for cleaning. It is always best to have the piano technician look at your piano to ensure you use the best method available.

GENERAL CLEANING AND DUSTING:

1. Remove everything from the surface of the piano before starting. Music, lights and decorations can quickly pile up. By completely removing everything there is no worries about something falling over and breaking or damaging the case or keyboard.

2. Dust the piano with a soft dry cloth or dusting wand. Never spray anything directly on the piano. What might work for one area might cause problems on another area of the piano. A dusting wand, soft cloth and some tender loving care will clean most day to day needs. If a little moisture is needed to help remove a spill use a barely moistened cloth and wipe it dry with a soft dry cloth immediately.

3. PIANO KEY CLEANING: This seemingly easy task is best accomplished by frequently dusting keys gently with a soft, dry cloth from back to front, taking care to remove dust between the black keys. Using household cleaning products (even water or “natural” cleaning agents) can invite disaster, from severe damage to the glues holding keytops in place, to slippery keys which make the piano difficult to play, or marred finishes which detract from its beauty. From time to time, however, keytops need special attention. We will be happy to provide professional cleaning or teach you how to do it properly the first time. If you desire to try it yourself, please read both sections below before proceeding. Always start with the black keys.

Black Keys: Although the best product I have found to clean most keytops is alcohol-based hand sanitizer, it must not be used for wooden or painted keys. If you have wooden Black Keys or are uncertain of their material or finish, you will need to test clean one of the keys so you don’t accidentally clean the paint away from the wood. Use one of the black keys on either far end of the piano and apply a small amount of hand sanitizer to a clean cloth. Wipe along the side of the key (not the top) and see if a black streak appears on your rag. If this happens, STOP. Do not clean the remainder of the keytops with hand sanitizer or any household cleaning product. Allow the side of the key you tested to dry completely, then clean all black keys by wiping carefully with a clean dry cloth. Household cleaners, alcohols, and the like, will remove the finish from your black keytops, cause streaking on white keytops, and may result in keys needing professional repair.

White Keys: Whether plastic or ivory, hand sanitizer is the best thing we have found to remove the oils from fingers, dust and dirt, as long as your Black Keys have passed the test outlined above. This is a cleaning agent which dries quickly and leaves nothing behind. Apply a liberal amount to a soft cloth or paper towel and rub it over the white key tops to clean it. Be sure to wipe away any excess. Repeat as needed till key is clean. CAUTION: Hand sanitizer may remove paint from wooden painted black keys. See Black Keys above before using any cleaning agent on white keys.

Grand Piano Cleaning

The not so grand part of owning a grand piano is the dust that is inevitable on the inside.

Cleaning the outside case and keys of the grand piano are the same as mentioned above.

Cleaning the inside of a grand piano requires some coaching to ensure no damage happens to the pins, strings and soundboard. Mention that you are interested in learning more about cleaning the piano yourself or have us do a detailed professional cleaning.