Do I Wax Walnut Ronisch Piano Case

[elly]

Hello everybody

New to the site so sorry if this topic has been covered. I recently bought a beautiful huge Ronisch walnut case piano, dating from probably 1895ish with arts and crafts style carved case. I live in Cyprus so it is humid but i want to keep the outer case in good order (piano was in the UK up until nearly 2 months ago) there is some pitting to areas of the walnut and i wondered if i could use beeswax on the case to help keep it from drying? Also one side of the piano is very faded from the sun. I know nothing about poilshing but from everybodys experience is it something that could be restored or is it best left as is. Thank you for your time

Elly

[pianotechman]

In your case, it probably would be a good idea to use a beeswax or canauba based compound. I worked on an upright that had been bought over for repair from Cyprus some years ago, the humidity had played havoc with the action, and corroded many of the metal parts, On an old piano the veneer will have been put on with the old 'bone/animal' adhesive and this breaks down with extreems of heat or moisture, so in my oppinion in would be prudent to apply protection to the casework.
The purchase of a Hygrometer to monitor the humidity level in the instrument may also be advisable.

[elly]

Hello,
Thank you so much for your reply, i have some beeswax so will try this, i did not want to do anything without checking in case i used the wrong product. The humidity level outside is about 77 at the moment but not sure what it is in the house, i will buy a hygrometer to measure the humidity, also can anyone advise how long i should leave the piano to settle before i have it tuned. Thank you
Elly

[Pianomate]

I use many of these Lakeone products - they are specially designed for antiques. The website is US but there are plenty of European distributors.

http://www.lakeoneusa.com/