Humidity & Your Piano

Things got a little crazy around here this week, so we are having Technical Tuesday...on Wednesday.  :)

Your piano is made primarily of wood, which is not only beautiful, but a very versatile material.  This means your piano is also affected by humidity and climate changes.  Seasonal changes in humidity can cause wood parts to swell and shrink, affecting tuning stability and touch.  Humidity also affects the leather and felt materials in the piano's action, causing changes in dimension that affect regulation and friction.

What can you do to minimize humidity?

The first and most simple of precautions you can take is to position your piano away from areas where it would be exposed to extremes of temperature and humidity such as heating and cooling vents, stoves, doors and windows.  Direct sunlight is especially damaging.  If your home is not well insulated, an interior wall is preferable to an outside wall.

Controlling the humidity levels within your home is another step.  To monitor and measure the relative humidity changes in your home, moderately priced hygrometers are available at many home supply stores.

A practical solution to humidity problems in your home is to have a humidity control system installed in the piano itself.  The system has 3 parts:  a humidifier for adding moisture to the air, a dehumidifier for eliminating excess moisture, and a humidistat/control unit which senses the relative humidity of the air within the piano.  The humidistat/control unit activates the system to add or remove moisture only as needed.  The system is designed to maintain a relative humidity of 42%.  All components are installed out of view, and are very easy to maintain with minimal instruction.

How do you know if you need a humidity control system?

Your piano will tell you.  That bears repeating:  Your piano will tell you.  If you experience changes in the touch of the action, if your piano goes out of tune quickly after tuning service, or if you are noticing condensation on the metal parts of your piano, speak with your Technician.  Humidity may not be the only culprit.  Your experienced Technician will know best how to advise you.

Technical Tuesdays - Hammer Assembly, Part 2

Today's all important question:  When is it not cool to be "Feeling Groovy" ?

Answer:  When you're a piano hammer.

Remember the pictures of the piano hammers in Part 1?  Nicely smooth, densely packed wool fibers in a pleasing oval shape; the piano hammer head is a vital contributor to the voice of each and every piano no matter if the piano is old or new.

When a piano is played,  as each key is depressed the corresponding hammer strikes the string.  The physical impact of this action begins to compact the fibers of the hammer head from Day 1, wear away the material and eventually grooves begin to form.  The pictures below show how piano hammers can change with wear:

Deeply grooved hammers, viewed from a bird's eye perspective.

Deeply grooved hammers, viewed head on. 

Because these changes happen ever so slowly over a long period of time, often folks don't even realize their piano's tone has changed.

The next time your piano is tuned, ask your technician to check the condition of your piano's hammers.  Your piano may not be giving you all the rich, beautiful tone it is capable of.

"The Disclaimer" - Technical Tuesdays are intended to give folks who are curious about pianos a bit more understanding of all those technical terms thrown about by piano technicians.  This is not intended for super in depth technical analysis, nor micro measurements; just general knowledge for those who are interested in how a piano works.

Technical Tuesday - Hammer Assembly, Part 1

This week it's all about the piano hammer assembly and it's parts 'n pieces. Let's work our way down from the hammer head to the flange:

There are 88 of these little babies on most pianos, whether you have a grand or vertical.  For our discussion here, all pictures are from a grand piano hammer assembly.  Let's take a closer look at each part and what it is:

Hammer Head:  The hammer head consists of a wooden core (can be made of different types of wood), and the dense material known as the felt.  Hammer heads are not all created equal, as there different qualities and densities of felt.  The hammer head is generally ovoid in shape, and attached to the wooden core either by adhesive and/or a very small staple.  As you can see from the pictures, some hammers have a second layer of 'underfelting' which departs an additional tonal quality to the hammer head. 

The felt material that makes up the hammer's head is vitally important, as it is a contributing factor to the voice of the piano (more on this in Part 2 next week).

Hammer Shank:  A flexible, traditionally round shaped shaft that brings the head of the hammer to the proper placing when striking the string.  Shanks can also be made of differing types of wood.  Some are even now available in a carbon fiber material (zoom, zoom!).  Shanks vary in dimension and size, depending on the manufacturer's design of the piano action as a whole.

Knuckle:  (Knuckle applies to grand pianos; the comparable component on a vertical piano is the Butt)  A small round component, the knuckle is located at the lower end of the hammer shank and is traditionally covered in buckskin.  The knuckle rests on top of the jack, which controls the velocity of the movement of the hammer from its resting point to the point where it strikes the string.  The velocity of this movement is determined by the speed and pressure applied to the piano keys by the player.

Hammer Flange:  This is an important piece of this puzzle, as it holds the entire hammer assembly in place on the action rail for correct alignment, assuring the hammer will strike the string(s) in precisely the correct place for optimum touch and tone.

So, there you have it - Piano Hammer Assembly 101.  Now that we've identified the components, we'll get a little more in depth next week in Part 2.

"The Disclaimer"  Technical Tuesdays are intended to give folks who are curious about pianos a bit more understanding of all those technical terms  thrown about by technicians.  This is not intended for super in depth micro measurements, just general knowledge for those who are interested in how a piano works. 

Technical Tuesday - Piano Lid Props

The grand piano's lid is supported by...you guessed it...the Lid Prop (also called the Lid Stick - both terms are used interchangeably as will be obvious between the text and pictures below).

The lid prop performs the important function of supporting the grand piano lid to allow the escape of all that beautiful music you are playing. And, as physics would have it, the longer the piano, the heavier the lid. The heavier the lid, the more important it is to make sure the right prop is in the right cup if you have more than one option on your grand piano.

Some grand pianos have 2 lid props, some even have 3! However many lid props your grand piano has, matching the correct prop with the correct cup on the underside of the lid can save you a real headache later.

The most important of the lid props is the LONG ONE! Let me say that just one more time, the LONG ONE! Neglecting to place the long lid prop in the correct cup creates instability in supporting the grand piano lid when it is in the full raised position, and even the smallest movement can result in the prop popping out of the cup & then you know what happens! No kidding, have you ever heard the lid of a 9 ft. concert grand slam shut? Can you imagine the force of it and goodness gracious, what if you happened to be standing there with your hand on the rim right about that same time?!? (shudder) Let's not even begin to think of the damage the lid slamming shut could potentially do to the piano.

Let's take a little tour, shall we?

Two props are very commonly seen on today's grand pianos. The shorter one typically nestles right into the body of the longer one when it is not being utilized.

The long lid prop is correctly placed in its corresponding cup (away from the edge of the lid). You can see how it supports the lid nicely.

Incorrectly placed, the long lid prop cannot provide stable support for the grand piano lid (even baby grand lids are heavy) and can easily pop out.

Here the short prop is in its correct cup (the one closest to the lid edge) to properly support the grand piano lid in its lower position closer to the body of the piano.

Here you can see this grand piano has 3 props. The medium sized prop nestles down into the body of the long prop when not in use, while the short brass prop resides alongside the long prop.

Notice how the middle and short prop cups are offset in their placement on the underside of the lid? This ensures the when you place any of the 3 props, they are in the correct cup to support the lid. Pretty nifty, don't you agree?

However, lid props aren't just for grand pianos! Vertical pianos have gotten in on the act in recent years:

Having a small lid prop on your vertical piano allows for even more enjoyment of the music as it escapes the confines of the cabinet while the piano is being played.

So, prop up those lids, Kids, and let the music sing!

It's Our BIRTHDAY!

JULY IS OUR BIRTHDAY - CELEBRATE WITH US!

Wow! Can you believe it? 35 years & we still love pianos and everything connected to them! We seen many changes over the years, but one thing remains constant - everyone identifies with music of some sort or style, and the piano remains one of the most sought after instruments. You, our customers, have made us who we are today, so we'd like to give you a gift!

Purchase a new piano between July 6th - July 25th,

and YOU get the birthday present - a brand new iPod !

Woot! Woot!