1. Tune Your Piano On A Regular Schedule For Optimal Health

Brand new pianos should be tuned 4 times in the first year, then 2 times per year thereafter, or once every 6 months.  New steel strings stretch their most when they are brand new.  Stretching them to their elasticity limit in the first year of their existence brings them to their stabile tension.  Regular 6 month tunings thereafter resets their tension after the soundboard (amplifier) movements change their tension during seasonal humidity changes.
 

 Protect Diaphragmatic Soundboard
  
The lifeblood of a piano's sound is its wooden, spruce soundboard.  When built, the soundboard is made from a select group of thinly cut, spruce boards glued together at the factory.  They are then cut and shaped to a diaphragmatic form, bowed towards the strings at its center.  When you choose not to tune your piano regularly, the bow, called "crown", exceeds its shape far beyond its original design which damages the acoustic fibers in the wood.  This results in a soundboard with a great loss of tonal power & sustain.  


The Pitch Drifts from Where It's Designed to Be

Humidity changes cause a fluctuation where the pitch (tuning) was set by your technician.  If you're able to control the room humidity, the soundboard moves far less which keeps the string tension at bay.  If you cannot control room humidity, have a Piano Life Saver System installed by Randy.  This system keeps the relative humidity stable day and night.


2.  Humidity Control
Pianos thrive in a stable environment at 42% relative humidity (RH).  This leads to longer lasting tunings and minimizes changes in the keys & 5,000 internal action parts.  Never let your piano exceed 55%RH or drop below 35%RH.  Do so leads to loose parts, keytops, cracks in the soundboard and tuning pin wood (called the pinblock) and destroys your finish, not to mention causes parts to seize up which leads to slow & sticking keys.​
 

3.  Cleaning
A clean piano works better, looks better, sustains its value, and helps keep parts from sticking or slowing down.  Internal dust turns to grime with humidity.  Let Randy clean your piano once-per-year.  See the “Platinum” Service for basic soaping & cleaning (once per year) or the “Ultra Luxe” service for the deep polish (deep exterior cabinet & brass polish once every 5 to 10 years).

You should still use an air compressor between the Platinum or Ultra Luxe services to blow out hard-to-reach areas to help reduce dust buildup.


4.  The Big 5 Parts of Piano Health Services

1.  Tuning - See above
2.  Humidity - See above
3.  Voicing - Soften or brighten your piano’s tone quality
4.  Regulation - Improve & correct your key & action dynamics without rebuilding.
5.  Rebuilding - Broken or failed parts like strings, hammers, woods, felts, glue joints, keytops, etc. can all be repaired by Randy.