Piano maintenance

The longer a piano remains out of tune, the more time and effort it will take for a technician to restore it to proper pitch.

Tuning can be made more secure by installing special equipment to regulate humidity, inside or underneath the piano.

However, a long-term low-humidity/high humidity environment will eventually cause the soundboard to crack, and the keys and other wooden parts to warp.

Their tunings create never before heard of combinations of intervals (some large and some "micro") that lend themselves to many beautiful and exciting new harmonies, scales, and textural effects not possible in equal temperament.

Piano technicians can soften hammers using special tools called voicing needles.

In either case, an important goal is uniform tone quality across the piano, since the hammers are not used with equal frequency and therefore tend to wear unevenly.

The grooves eventually become deep enough, and the head of the hammer flattened enough, that voicing cannot restore the piano's tone.

At this point, a technician can file the hammers, restoring their original ovoid shape and pristine surface at the expense of making them somewhat smaller.

Over time, the performance of a piano action tends to decline, due to the compression of felt, warping of wood, and other types of wear.

A skilled technician can restore it to optimal precision, in a process called regulation, which involves adjustments ranging from turning a small screw to sanding down a wood surface.

Restoration is labor-intensive, and therefore expensive; it is therefore generally done only if the original piano was of high quality, or the instrument has historical or sentimental value.

The wheels attached directly to the piano itself are rarely used for moving, and are used mainly for cosmetic effect.

Additional care should be added to ensure that the piano parts that can rub together and scratch must be secured.

Contrary to popular legend, proper piano moving does not affect tuning[citation needed].

If humidity changes are extreme, the soundboard can warp so much to the point that it can collapse and lose its crown, which may require rebuilding or replacing the instrument.

While some technicians think that running a warm-air humidifier may be more effective, especially in cases of very dry climates, others think that this may lead to mildew or mold formation inside the crown.

If a spill occurs, immediate action should be taken by removing the keys, cleaning them in a grease-cutting solution and allowing them to dry.