Is your piano under attack from silent insects?

If your piano is not maintained frequently enough, you could incur higher repair costs as a result of insect or rodent damage, for example. There are also string pressure maintenance issues which affect some pianos more than others.

Here are some guidelines:

OLD PIANOS (60 – 80 years old)
Plus Factors
Some old pianos that were fortunate enough to be tuned on a regular basis in their earlier lives are less likely to have problems regarding retention of pitch.  This is due to the strings having been stretched to the limits of their elasticity through regular tuning. The original owners of these pianos were often more aware of the necessity regarding regular tuning.

Negative Factors
Old pianos are often passed down to offspring who have no knowledge of the maintenance required.  Tuning is only considered necessary when a young family member is about to begin music lessons.   When the tuner arrives, he is often confronted with damage caused by moth or rodents that have lived in the piano for years on end. If a pitch raise is necessary, there is always a danger of old strings breaking due to a lack of elasticity.

NEWER PIANOS
New pianos are more likely to need regular tuning than older instruments due to the stretch factors of the newer strings.   Sadly this is often not taken into account and the tunings are not done as frequently as necessary.

A new piano which is bought off the shop floor needs to be tuned every 6 months for at least three years until the 20,000 kg’s of string pressure has dissipated throughout all the pressure bearing points in the frame, bridge and soundboard. There can be a few negative factors regarding some new pianos which I will cover in subsequent blogs, however, the rich freshness of sound in a newer instrument is a huge plus factor for me.