New Piano - problems with heating / changes in humidity

[xuloChavez]

Hi All

I'm studying for 6th grade and after two years combining a basic digital piano and practice rooms, I'm considering buying a new Kawai K-3.

The only spot I can place it is in a smallish living room (5 m X 3 m), 1.5 m away from a radiator (at the closest point). The heating is powerful, and the house is always warm in winter (plain warm though the day and then very warm in the eveing), although obviously I can regulate the living room heating. Also, the piano is about 0.5 m away from an external window, which would get some late afternoon sun (although there are curtains).

This is already not ideal, but there is one more problem that I hadnt thought of: we tend to use the living room to dry the washing up, several times a week, which can make it quite humid (to the point that my classes get condensation when I walk in from the outside).

Would this rule the piano out? From what I read, heating / humidity would be more of a problem for older pianos. Would a new piano normally be fine, just need additional tuning, or will it deteriorate quickly, eg in a few years rather than a few decades? Would it help that Kawai K3 uses carbon fiber in parts of their action?

thanks
Pablo

[MarkGoodwinPianos]

I'm not a technician but I'd have said the first 2 issues are fine but if you are talking about the clothes washing as opposed to pot washing then that might be the only thing to cause concern.

Some clever people will be along shortly to advise you better

[Barrie Heaton]

Get a piano life saver it will protect your piano
list of fitters on the bottom of this page click on the map

http://www.fletcher-newman.co.uk/Piano- ... index.html

Barrie,

[markymark]

New pianos need time to settle in as well. Shops tend to be cooler and, depending on the shop, either damper or drier than the average household. It's also one of the reasons that you would be told to give your piano at least a f month or two if not more to allow the piano to acclimatise properly.

Simple things like temperature, humidity, how level the floor of the room is can off-set a piano and set back the time taken to settle. In new pianos, there is also the matter of new strings which are susceptible to stretching, hence the tone of the piano flattens.

Wherever you place your piano, it needs to be a room with as consistent an environment as possible in order to avoid regular de/tuning.

[Gill the Piano]

New pianos get sticking keys if the humidity is very high...older pianos are more used to it!

[xuloChavez]

thanks for all the quick answers!

From what you say I guess that normal temperature oscillations within a flat (I guess we can say of less < 15 degrees, in my case I'll guess roughly between 15 and 30, although its probably less extreme) shouldnt be a problem, simply that the piano will need time to settle, and may need tuning more often.

On the other hand, the humidity might be a problem. The living room isnt that small, and it's generally well ventilated, but when we hang the loundry you do feel the humidity. I guess this will mean more frequent tuning, but also I was wondering whether it is a significant risk of actual damage to the piano (as opposed to just going out of tune).

[Colin Nicholson]

Temperature changes - if extreme - will cause the piano to go out of tune, and the piano will need to be tuned more frequently, say, four times a year instead of two - but premature pitch raising may cause problems in the future.

Humidity is the 'killer'. If the piano is exposed to high levels of damp (over 70% on a hygrometer) - over a short period of time, this may cause rusting/ corroding strings, action parts swelling, i.e. sticking keys/ flanges becoming tight & action parts not returning properly or quickly enough. Carbon fibre actions are good & strong, but will not save the action from high levels of humidity. Centre pins may also rust.

Something worth noting..... if you buy an unusual plant/ flower from a garden centre, or an exotic pet or tropical fish from a pet store, they will be kept there in the right kind of atmosphere/ temperature. However, once purchased, if not kept in similar surroundings, they will soon die.

[Johnkie]

Anyone buying a new piano should be prepared for a little frustration over the first year or two. Tuning tends to be unstable until the new steel has stretched and settled in. This is often a direct result of manufacturers not:-

1.Stretching the strings enough - it's what's referred to as "Chipping up and rubbing down". Once is better than nothing .. but doing this proceedure 3 or 4 times makes a huge difference to tuning stability.

2.Tapping down the coils at the wrestpins and making sure that the "pips" (where the wire enters the hole in the wrestpins) are squeezed to make firm contact.

Changes in temperature and humidity are the biggest de-stabilising culprits after the initial settling down irritations of new pianos. Temperature changes alter tunings by expanding and contracting the steel wire - and generally speaking, unless the change in temperature is vast, the tuning will normally settle once the piano returns to the temperature it was when it was last tuned. Humidity, however, is something much more serious!

The soundboard is fitted into the piano's casework extremely firmly - and will have a "crown" ( a convex surface). When the strings are attached and pulled up to pitch, great pressure is placed on the soundboard, and because of the "crown", the grain of the soundboard is compressed. This improves the transmission of sound and makes the soundboard much firmer and stable. Too little humidity will have the effect of shrinking the soundboard - This leads to the "crown" reducing - and if it reduces too much, the pressure applied by the strings will eventually be able to flatten the soundboard, and once falttened ,there will be no way to stop the "crown" becomming a "depression" (concave). This is when the grain then splits, and instead of a rock solid soundboard ... it becomes a giant wooden jelly, and all hopes of tuning stability are lost. Too much humidity does the opposite ... the wood expands, and the "crown" increases, making everything go sharp by adding more tension to the strings, especially in the middle ranges.

Ideally, if a piano could be kept at a constant (within acceptable levels) temperature and humidity, exactly the same as when it was when last tuned .... it would stay perfectly in tune for years!!

Your situation sounds pretty hostile as far as having a piano is concerned - I would most certainly agree with using a "piano saver system" as already stated in a previous posting. I am not too sure about the K3 as the best choice though. It has a millenium action which (unless they've modified it) has no "Jack Slap Rail" and tends to trap rather badly, making it very difficult to get acceptable repetition ... otherwise it's a fabulous piano ... nice touch, great to tune, but in my opinion Kawii could have made it perfect at very little cost by including something as basic as a Jack Slap Rail.