Have your piano tuned regularly. Twice a year minimum. If you stop playing tune it once a year. Three to four times per year if you require a higher level of performance.
Ask your technician to do a minor “touch-up” regulation at each tuning. This will prevent most instances of unnecessary wear and breakage.
Have a full regulation done every 2 to 5 years. You’d be surprised at how your piano should have sounded and responded to you playing all these years.
Don’t attempt any “home repairs” on your piano. Although it may appear easy to fix yourself, an innocent mistake can be costly. Let a technician do it – they have the right tools, replacement parts and expertise to do the job right the first time.
Keep your piano away from heating registers, radiators, fireplaces and air conditioning vents. Subjecting it to extreme fluctuations of temperature and humidity levels can do major damage. Keeping a piano away from an outside wall was probably necessary in poorly insulated older Victorian homes, but should not be a problem these days. Avoid direct sunlight on your piano – it can damage and fade the finish, or even create horrible tuning problems. Use curtains or blinds.
Try and keep the temperature and humidity levels as consistent as possible in the room where you have your piano. Using a temperature/humidity gauge (hygrometer) can keep this in check. Seasonal swings in relative humidity are the piano’s greatest enemy. Swelling and shrinking of wooden parts affect tuning and keyboard touch, while extreme swings can eventually cause wood to crack and glue joints to fail. Pianos are happiest in a relative humidity level of 40 to 45 percent. If you don’t have a central humidifier/dehumidifier, consider getting a room humidifier for the winter, and a room dehumidifier or air conditioner during the summer months. There’s even such thing as a special piano humidifier/dehumidifier that can be installed in your piano. Ask me about the Piano Life Saver System. I am a Certified Installer. Over 60% of my customer base have the piano humidity control system installed. These pianos stay in tune better as the pitch adjustments are minimal compared to pianos with no humidity control. In addition, the moving parts and sound board are less likely to fail due to weather changes. (please visit the following link to learn about this fantastic system Piano Life Saver System. I can install the system for you.
Keep plants, vases, drinks, or anything to do with liquid off the piano. Condensation can ruin the finish, and spillage of liquids into the inner mechanism can result in irreversible damage.
To prevent scratches on the finish, never place objects on your piano without a soft cloth or felt.