How Often Should You Tune a Piano in Louisville’s Climate?
If you’ve lived in the Ohio Valley for any amount of time, you’ve experienced the meaning of the phrase “four seasons in one week”. To those who come from less volatile climates, it can be frustrating never knowing what to wear when going out and about (not to mention the severe sinusitis that goes along with living here).
Piano owners may wonder: “If the constant change in climate is so hard on me, what is it doing to my piano?” As wise question indeed. You can read about how humidity and temperature affect the tuning stability and health of a piano in my article covering this topic. For a place where one never quite knows what the climate is going to hold, is a piano doomed the negative effects of a volatile climate?
We have three little kids at home and, if you are anything like us, we have the doors open all the time to bring fresh air into our air-conditioned box. (I am certainly my Grandfather’s son whose constant phrase was “Don’t put me in a box”). As we live in the Louisville area, my upright piano is at the mercy of whatever wild weather fluctuation is happening that day.
Unless one has a system in place to mitigate these wild fluctuations in humidity and temperature (i.e. a Dampp-Chaser Piano Life Saver system), the tuning stability and health of your piano will suffer compared to those in a more stable climate. Even with one of these systems in place, the piano will still experience negative effects if it is constantly near an open door or window.
So what can be done? In the ever-changing climate of the Louisville area, the following measures can be taken to help preserve the tuning stability and health of your piano: placement and regular maintenance.
Placement is simply where the piano is in your home. Before the modern marvels of insulation and HVAC technology, the common wisdom for the placement of a piano was to be against an interior wall that was far from entrances. However, as technology has developed, one is free to place the piano near exterior walls without detriment. Before deciding on your pianos place to live in your home, simply consider how much the temperature or humidity will change in that location. Opt for locations that experience as little temp/humidity change as possible.
The other measure that can be taken is regular maintenance. With a technician coming to your home every 6-12 months (or according to you manufacturer’s recommendations), they can measure the temperature and humidity fluctuations over a long period of time and provide guidance about placement and the piano’s health. They will also be able to catch and solve small problems early that would likely cause greater issues over time.
If you are ever in need of such a technician, we are happy to schedule you for a consultation or service call. We are always a phone call away and happy to serve!