Distributor for the World’s Finest Piano Service
and Furniture Finish Repair Products.
For Piano Service in the Greater Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania Area ... Click Here
888-622-7426
This category does not contain any products at this time.
Dehumidifier Benefits in the Piano Life Saver System
Apart from the strings, your piano is almost entirely made of wood. Like the living trees that were the source of your piano, wood responds to climate and environment - it breathes, stretches and flexes. All wood instrument musicians are familiar with the effects of humidity levels. Guitar players must frequently adjust their bridge heights and fingerboard action. Violinists must pay close attention to maintaining constant, ideal humidity levels - or else they may find their violin rather dramatically springing apart during a performance!
Just as with other wood-based instruments, your piano needs a constant level of ideal humidity - between 40% - 50% - to maintain its pitch and tone, quality of action, and to prevent permanent damage.
|
Prevent Sticking Keys Just as doors and drawers become tight and difficult to move, the keys of your piano may stick down when struck in times of high humidity. |
|
|
Prevent Sluggish, Unresponsive Keyboard Action As you play your piano, you will notice how responsive the keys are to your touch. The way the keys cause the hammers to strike the piano strings is part of thousands of interconnected wooden parts called the piano action. With high moisture levels in the piano action, the action is sluggish, and the keys seem non-responsive to your touch. |
|
|
Prevent Costly, Permanent Bridge and Soundboard Damage The soundboard is the single largest piece of wood in your piano. It actually vibrates to amplify the sound produced by the strings. The bridges of your piano are joined to the soundboard and support the strings. |
Moist Conditions
Dry Conditions
|
|
As the soundboard absorbs moisture from the air surrounding the piano, it swells, producing an upward bulge. Through the bridge, this puts additional tension on the strings. Now, the pitch is too high in the lower mid-range and treble section. |
Cracked Soundboard
|
|
Prevent Pinblock Damage The strings of your piano are held tight by the pins in the pinblock. As the pinblock absorbs moisture in periods of high humidity, it swells, crushing the wood fibers against the pin. |
Moist Conditions
Dry Conditions
|
|
In this picture, the pinblock (without pins) was removed from a piano during restoration. With continuous swelling and shrinking, the wood could no longer provide the snug fit required to hold pins in place. |
Pinblock Damage
|
|
Prevent Serious Rust Damage to Strings and Pins The strings of your piano are responsible for producing the musical sounds. With exposure to high humidity levels over long periods, strings become rusted and corroded.
|
|
|
At the junction where rusted strings wrap around rusted pins, rust corrosion forms a hardened bond between the two. Then, during a tuning, when your piano technician turns the pins to stretch the strings, the inflexible, rusted string snaps at this joint. |
|
