How to Keep Your Piano Clean: know some simple and effective techniques

The musicians playing piano on a regular basis might get their piano unclean. The dust particles and carbon deposits from the environment make it dirty. If you can wipe it with a dry and soft cotton cloth on a regular basis, this can keep your piano clean. There are many other cleaning tools that can keep your piano clean. Also, a layer of protection is an important part of the piano cleaning activity. This is also available in the market. Today we are going to discuss variety of ways through which you can keep your piano clean.

 

Regular mainten

ance of piano

 

How will you maintain the piano by yourself There are few simple steps to do the same? You need to go ahead with the process of dusting on a regular basis. You will be observing that after few days, the keys of your piano tend get accumulate good amount of dusts. You must use something that cleans those dusts. Sometimes you may also require the professional cleaning. The professionals also use right products to do the entire activity. If you don’t wish to see your piano getting damaged, it is the time to go ahead with regular maintenance.

How to clean the keys?

 

Keys of the piano is an important part where good amount of dust is accumulated. If you can keep this place free from dust, good maintenance will be done. Following are some of the ways:

 

• Feather duster for keys– The feather duster is one of the good option of removing the dust from the keyboard. This will softly remove the particles without causing any damage to your piano keys. Sometimes dusts can come in the form of very small stones, sands as well as glass. Thus, there is a good chance that you will get scratches on piano keys. Thus, feather is the best way to remove such dust as it won’t exert pressure. Only a soft touch of feather can remove all dusts.

 

Note– It is good to dust the piano in every alternate day. This will reduce the accumulation of dust particles. The particles falling over the piano can be restricted if you maintain on a regular basis.

 

• Plastic keys cleaning– There are normally two types of keys in piano keybaord. One is the plastic key and the other one is ivory. The cleaning process of both the keys are different. The chemicals and cleaning tools used for each of the keys will be different as well. The plastic keys are synthetic in nature. Thus, there is no risk of chemicals getting inside the keys. Thus, extra cleaning products can be used in this . Normally, the plastic keys are smooth and in flat surface. Thus, there are no grains like the ivory keys. You can easily use some home remedies to clean the plastic keys. Yes, just a wet cotton cloth that squeezes extra water can do the cleaning. Also, there are some steps to do the same. These are:
• Take a small bowl and fill it with clean water
• Now, add few drops of vinegar in it. You can also use the liquid dish washer in it.
• Now mix the solution with a spoon
• The next step is to take a clean white microfiber cloth and dip it in the solution
• Take the cloth out and squeeze the excess water from it
• Now, rub the keys appropriately with the damp cloth.
• Remember, the motion of rubbing with be back to front
• If you can see some excess cleaning agents has settled down over certain keys, that too must be removed. This can be done by using a dry cotton cloth. Do it until all the keys are clean and dry?

Cleaning the sound board and case work

 

Piano is not just the keys. There are many other parts that are quite important for a piano. The sound board is one of them. The sound board is plain in texture. Thus, you can always use a damp cloth for it. A clean and damp cloth can be placed over the case work or the board of piano. After rubbing all these portions with damp cloth, you must again use a dry cloth to rub those portions to keep it free from watery surface.

 

Note– You must be very particular about the strokes that you are using over the board of piano. It is always advisable to use the straight strokes. Always try to avoid the circular motion. As, there is good chance to have swirl marks over your piano board. Also, make sure that the cloth you are using to rub the surface is non-abrasive in nature. Both the dirt and the dust can be removed with this process.

Removal of smudges and finger prints

 

Do you think that only dust and dust are responsible for the damage of your brand-new piano? If yes, your assumption is totally wrong. The smudges of your hands and the finger prints can also get settled over the piano board as well as keys as you use it on a regular basis. Over here also a damp cloth is useful. But, don’t  make the cloth too much wet. A slight damp cloth will be ideal.  Make sure you remove the excess water from the damp cloth. If the moisture gets deposited over the corners of the keybaord, that can damage it in the long run.

 

Polish the piano surface

 

Normally, the outer portion of piano is quite smooth. But, if you don’t maintain it, this can turn up to be rough and rigid. Thus, polish is a great way to keep it visibly beautiful. But some people also keep on polishing the board repeatedly. But, this can give rise to adverse effect in future. Thus, it is advisable to go ahead with polish whenever it is necessary. For this you must use it as piano polish. Try doing it from small sections. Some tips in polishing piano are as under:

• Polish product- You will easily get wide range of polishing products in the market. But, choosing the appropriate one is an important consideration. Go for the quality product so that your piano remains safe.
• Polish quantity- It is always important to have a track on how much polish you are using for your piano’s wellbeing. Try to use the chemical as less as possible. Do use it after a good interval of time when you need it thorough cleaning or buffing. Sometimes if the polish gets inside of the piano, it can damage the system
• High gloss polish- Most of the piano has the lacquer finish. If your piano too has the same finish, don’t go for the polish which is high glossy in nature. For the lacquer finish pianos, the satin finish polish will be the best one. The pianos with polymer finish are ideal for the high gloss polish application.
• No household furniture polish- Some of you may be experimenting wish the household polishes. It means, you must be applying the home remedies such as lemon oil, aerosol products etc over the piano. But, this is not going to be a good idea at all. This may ruin your piano surface. This might completely damage the exterior of the piano.

 

Cleaning the soundboard

 

People may have different types of pianos. Some of you may have a grand piano where as others are using the upright piano variation. One of the ways to remove the dust from the sound board is to blow away from the surface as well as interiors.  The best way to do this is the use of vacuum.  But, there are also risk of doing so. Do you have experience in blowing the dust from the piano with vacuum? Normally, it exerts pressure and do suction strongly. Thus, if you are not experienced in doing so, it can lead to damage and break in the strings of your piano. Some Of the tips of cleaning the soundboard with the vacuum are:

 

1. When you in the verge of starting the cleaning process with vacuum, it is important to make sure you should not touch the dampers or the string of the piano with the vacuum nozzle or air can. Even don’t try to use the fingers.
2. It is important to hold the compressed air nozzle or the vacuum just few inches away from the soundboard surface. It is always suggested to use the vertical stroke when you are removing dust.
3. It is better to blow the dust and transfer it to an accessible corner of the vacuum. There after put your vacuum on suck mode. Then you can clean the mess together.

 

Professional cleaner

 

It is always good to hire a professional cleaner when you are going to clean an expensive product. The piano normally costs quite high. It is regarded as an asset which can be carried on for years. Why does people take the risk of making the piano clean by themselves? The chemical and the tool used to do the same may accidentally damage the piano.

 

If you hire a professional in this situation, they will do the cleaning part with great care. They have experience in doing it for years. Thus, the chances of damaging the product is quite low here. They will set the sensitive component aside and then do the complete process of cleaning. They also have the right cleaning too fir each product. They have the collection of such tool as they do this task by profession. We cannot buy such expensive tool as it will be waste of money to buy for a single product.

 

The professional cleaner also knows how to take out the keys safely and put it again in space. Thus, the dust and dirt which are underneath the keys can be easily removed.

 

Protection of piano after cleaning

 

Do not expose to outer environment

 

Only cleaning the musical instrument is not all. You also need to go ahead with its regular maintenance. There are certain elements which can be reason of making your piano unclean again. Those factors are sunlight, humidity, extreme climates etc. These can affect especially when your piano is exposed to the outside environment. Think about the pianist who regularly go for outdoor programs. In such a situation, the piano will be totally exposed to the environment. Try to keep the piano in such a place which is away from the reach of direct sunlight. Also try to avoid the place where the extreme cold weather can attack. Also, a room will be dangerous which is prone to dampness.

Avoid placing objects on piano

 

Some people have the habit of keeping some objects over the piano.  This can be a lamp, a book, a plastic bowl etc. This is a wring practice which can even damage the piano surface. All you can do is keep a protective layer over the piano and then keep the objects. Also, it is important to avoid keeping the food items over the piano surface. It can be cooked food items, drinks as well as other liquids. This can easily damage your piano surface.

 

Close lid during unused

 

Some people have the habit of keeping the piano lid open all the time. This might catch up the dust and dirt when you don’t use it. The best way to protect your piano will be closing the lid when you are not using it. This will help your piano stay away from dirt, dust, carbons, etc.

 

Conclusion

 

Keeping piano clean needs special training and experience. Your maid servant must be unaware of the method through which your piano will stay clean.  They often use the rough and dry clothes. This will create scratches when the dust particles along with sand balls are present over the surface of the piano. When you pull it from the surface, unknowingly it ends up with the scratch mark. Using the mineral water as well as spray perfume is harmful for your piano as well.