Piano Maintenance
How often should my piano be tuned?
TL;DR Most common is twice a year (every 6 months).
If you have recently purchased a brand new piano, the rules are different. Most manufacturers recommend a new piano get tuned 3-4 times a year for the first few years. This is due to new string stretch. However, in most cases that is unreasonable. Instead, expect the first few tunings to take a bit longer, and cost a more than a standard tuning, until your piano is stable.
Generally, Holly recommends having your piano tuned once every 6-12 months depending on your home's environment, and how often you play. If you play more than 8 hours a week, and/or you have a sensitive ear, you might even choose to have it tuned more often (3 or 4 times a year).
In the situation where we have you on a 6-month schedule, and the piano has reached a great point of tuning stability, we can use your scheduled appointment for touch-up tuning, and allow the rest of the time for other services such as regulation and voicing.
For further reading on tuning and general maintenance, check out this article on PianoBuyer.com
How long is a service appointment?
If you are a new client, we schedule about 2.5 hours of time. This allows us to meet each other, and for me to meet your piano! A new piano to me usually means it hasn't been tuned in more than 12 months, and will need extensive tuning. It is also likely that your piano needs repairs other than tuning. Small repairs that can be done within that timeframe are included in the initial service charge. Anything that needs more than the standard amount of time needs to be planned ahead of time, and will cost accordingly. When you schedule through the self-scheduler, it will give you an estimate of time based on the services you have selected.
When your piano is serviced by us regularly, expect a service appointment to last about 1hr 45m. If your piano is extremely stable (not needing pitch adjustments across the entire piano), we can often tune the piano much more quickly, and utilize the remainder of the time for services such as regulation, voicing, or more repairs.
General Piano FAQ
How much is my piano worth?
Sky Piano Services does not provide appraisals.
In general, if the value of your piano is less than $5,000, most insurance companies do not need a formal appraisal.
That being said, if you need an appraisal for insurance purposes, we can work with a certified appraiser in the piano trade. We come take pictures, evaluate the condition, touch, and tone. The report is then sent to the appraiser, and they create a certified report which includes value for insurance purposes.
If you want to do some of your own research for personal reasons, or to get an idea what to sell your piano for (or if a piano you are looking at purchasing is valued properly), please check out these resources from PianoBuyer.com :
Humidity
Why does humidity matter?
Colorado is a whole different beast when it comes to dryness. It gets dry, and stays dry. It is even dry in the summer, except during the rainy season.
Pianos are affected with fluctuations in Relative Humidity (RH). RH is determined by the moisture content in the air. The hotter it gets, naturally... the more humid it gets. When we start running heaters, that dries out the air. Colder is usually more dry, and then add heating devices, and it gets extremely dry.
Pianos are made of wood, glue, felt, and steel.
Glue
High humidity degrades glue. Cold and extreme temperatures degrade glue.
When glue joints fail, anything can start to fall apart.
Wood
Wood expands and contracts with the changes in RH. The soundboard specifically, rises and falls. This large part of your piano constantly moving is the number one cause of your piano going out of tune. When it is too humid, moving parts that have absorbed too much moisture bind and rub causing sluggishness in the feel.
Felt
Felt is a natural material, like wood, and is very susceptible to absorption and release of moisture. When we are adjusting your piano to 0.001" measurements, a loss of moisture can mean extreme changes to the touch of your piano. All of the moving parts inside your piano are made of wood + felt. When the wood dries out and the felt dries out, we lose touch, tone, and the action becomes noisy.
Steel
Steel is more susceptible to temperature changes than to humidity. If it's cold, the steel shrinks, and the string effectively gets tighter (piano goes sharp!). If it's hot, the steel expands, and the piano goes flat.
When the soundboard and the strings are both changing drastically, you can imagine how the piano can go out of tune in "such odd ways". Controlling your environment (keeping windows closed, redirecting nearby air vents, and humidifying the piano/room/home) is the best way to keep the piano from drastically changing tune and touch.
What humidity should I keep my piano at?
Colorado is a whole different beast when it comes to dryness. It gets dry, and stays dry. It is even dry in the summer, except during the rainy season.
The ideal Relative Humidity (RH) for your piano is 35-45%. Most importantly, keep your RH within a 10% range, and above 20%.
If you are regularly seeing 30%, that's great! 35-38%? Also great!
Regularly 40+% might be uncomfortable and feel muggy in your home.
Regularly below 20% is BAD, and will cause long-term damage to your piano
I recommend this Humidity sensor. It gives you the current reading, as well as a High/Low of both humidity and temperature. As an added bonus, you connect to it through a Bluetooth app on your phone, and you can see charts over time.
If your piano has recently moved to Colorado, please know that if you do not control your humidity immediately, you can see issues as early as 1 month, and as long as 3 years later.
How Do I Control the Humidity?
The first thing you should do, is purchase an inexpensive Humidity sensor, and place it on top of your piano/music desk.
In the summer, we sometimes still need to humidify!! However, the winter is the most important time to pay attention to this.
The ideal Relative Humidity (RH) for your piano is 35-45%. Most importantly, keep your RH within a 10% range, and above 20%.
After understanding the RH Levels around your piano, we have a few courses of action.
Buy a room steam humidifier. Depending on your room, these will likely need to be refilled 1-2 times a day in the winter. Venta has a few different models.
Have a professional install a whole-house steam humidifier. I recommend the Aprilaire 800 Steam Humidifier
Hire SkyPianos to install a Piano Lifesaver System. For pricing and to schedule this service, please click on the Book Appointment button, and select which Piano Lifesaver System (Vertical or Grand) you would like to have installed.