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Placement
There are 2 “nevers” for piano placement, never in direct sunlight, this means checking if the sun will be shining on the piano during any portion of the day. The 2nd never is never in direct heat, in other words if a heat register will be blowing on it(or for that matter an A/C vent) either move the piano, close the vent or purchase a deflector to deflect the direct heat away from the piano.
Finish Care
The most important suggestion I can make is to keep all drinks off the piano, they can not only mar the finish but if spilled can leak inside doing much more damage.
When you dust try to dust in the direction of the grain on wood finished pianos, dust can be abrasive which is why dry dusting, unless a special duster, Swiffer or any of the electrostatic dusting materials are used, they pick up the dust instead of “pushing it around”. The 2 types of piano finishes found on pianos today, lacquer on older pianos and polyester/polyurethane on newer ones may also be wiped down with a clean slightly damp cloth. Spray type polishes are not recommended. Cory makes piano specific polishes for the differing finishes which I offer, along with their key cleaning liquid.
Tuning-How often?
Most manufacturers recommend tuning a new piano 3 to 4 times the first year and twice a year after that.
I find in my experience I have some customers that tune their pianos more often than twice a year and others that once a year works for them just fine. The large seasonal changes are most noticable after the onset of heating season in the fall and after the end of heating season in the late spring/early summer.
General Rules of Care
Keep the piano tuned and try not to overfill the bench (the bottoms break out easily), wipe off the keys periodically with a damp cloth.
Play the piano regularly, a played piano is a happy piano!
Do not try to make repairs yourself. I carry a supply of parts, specialty tools, specialty glues which I paid for years ago. Frequently I have found it is more expensive to re-repair a do-it-yourselfer’s good intentions, than for me to just repair it in the first place.
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