Chapter 4

Taking Good Care of Your Keyboard

IN THIS CHAPTER

check Finding the right home for your keyboard

check Cleaning your keyboard

check Realizing when you can’t fix it yourself

check Taking the pain out of moving day

As with any baby, it’s important to be the best parent you can be to your keyboard. Consider this chapter to be your “Bringing Up Baby” manual. From finding the right home in your house to keeping your keyboard clean and professionally maintained, you’ll be glad you took the time to take the best possible care of your keyboard.

Providing a Good Place to Live

Whether you bought an acoustic or digital keyboard, the first thing to do when you get your new baby home is to find a spot for it to live. This spot doesn’t have to be a permanent resting place, but some spots are better than others in terms of keeping your keyboard looking good and sounding even better for the duration of its life. Your ideal spot has all the following characteristics:

  • No direct sunlight: Even through a window, overexposure to sunlight can damage your keyboard over time. Direct sunlight can cause the wood to warp or dry out, affecting both the sound and overall appearance. You may not mind the look of a faded keyboard, but it will be hard to sell down the road.
  • Controlled climate: Don’t expose your keyboard to violent temperature swings. For example, don’t leave it on a porch that gets really hot in the summer and dreadfully cold in the winter. To avoid fluctuating temperatures, place your keyboard near an interior wall rather than an exterior wall. Wood responds to changes in humidity, so consider setting up a humidifier or dehumidifier if you and your acoustic piano live in a dry or wet climate. (Your piano tuner will be glad to advise you on humidifiers and dehumidifiers for this purpose.)
  • Good ventilation: For acoustic pianos, good ventilation reduces the buildup of excess moisture, which can affect the wood. For digital keyboards, ventilation keeps the inner workings cooled when the power is on. But you shouldn’t put your keyboard right under an air-conditioning unit or right over a heating duct. Just make sure that the area has good airflow through it.
  • Safety: No matter how expensive (or inexpensive) it is, don’t set your keyboard in a precarious position where it can get bumped, fall, or have something fall on it.
  • Elbow room: When you feel cramped or uncomfortable, you’re more likely to avoid practicing. Lack of practice leads to poor playing, so give yourself ample space for stretching out when you play.
  • Convenience: Don’t confine your keyboard to an area that’s hard to reach. When inspiration hits, you want the keys close at hand, in a place that allows you to focus on your music. And speaking of convenience, make sure your room has plenty of electrical outlets. Using miles and miles of extension cords is expensive, irritating, and just plain ugly.
  • Lighting: Until you’re in a dark, smoke-filled bar or in front of hundreds of adoring fans, you should always play with good lighting. Not only is it easier to see the black and white keys with good light, but reading music is next to impossible in the dark. You can set a lamp on or near your keyboard, but avoid the clip-on kind, which can damage the keyboard’s finish.

Remember Also keep in mind how the location of your piano or keyboard may impact your relationship with your neighbors. For example, don’t put your keyboard in the room right over your downstairs neighbor’s bedroom. All those practice sessions late at night will soon be history.

Making It Shine: Cleaning Your Keyboard

A clean instrument sounds better and looks better longer than one that’s neglected — both advantages that can affect its value if you ever need to sell it. You don’t have to go overboard when it comes to cleaning your acoustic piano or digital keyboard, but you should keep it free of dust and dirt as much as possible.

Remember Don’t be afraid to lay down the law when it comes to keeping your instrument clean, insisting that no one (not even you) eats or drinks around your keyboard. A spilled drink in the back seat of your car is one thing; a spilled drink on your keyboard can be fatal (for the keyboard, that is). And do you really want to clean out old cracker crumbs from between the keys once a month?

In addition to keeping food and drink away from your keyboard, don’t allow dust to build up on your instrument. Dust buildup in electric keyboards may eventually short out the circuitry or cause the keys or buttons to stick. Either of these results is bad news. Cover your digital keyboard when you aren’t using it, either with a purchased dust cover or a homemade one. Dust buildup in acoustic pianos isn’t as critical, but I still recommend that you keep it in check (and constant sneezing because of a dusty piano can be a drawback while playing).

The two most important cleaning tools to have near your instrument are a feather duster and a small, medium-bristle paintbrush. At least once a month, use the feather duster for an overall dusting, followed by a detailing with the paintbrush, where you get in all the grooves and between the keys. Simply press down each key and clean both sides before moving to the next one. If you’re in a hurry, just run the brush in between the keys and give it a better, more thorough cleaning later. Digital keyboards have lots of little buttons, digital displays, knobs, sliders, and other gadgets; turn the power off and clean these with a dry, soft, lint-free rag every couple of months.

Warning Be careful what cleaning solvents you use on your keyboard’s finish. The wood finish on many grand pianos, for example, can be ruined by normal furniture polish. Ivory keys should be cleaned with a dry cloth or a cleaner made especially for them. (Products made for cleaning piano cases and keys are available online.) For most keyboards (acoustic or electric), I recommend a cloth that’s slightly damp with plain soap and water (see the sidebar “Secret revealed: Special piano cleaner”). Don’t be embarrassed to ask the dealer what cleaning products are advised and exactly how to use them.

When using a liquid solution on the finish, whether soap and water or window cleaner (sometimes recommended, but ask first!), use an old T-shirt or lint-free rag instead of a paper towel. Fabric cloths don’t leave those little white fuzz balls as you clean. Don’t spray liquid cleaners directly on your instrument. Spray first onto your rag or cloth, and then wipe the instrument. Continue again and again until the instrument is clean, but make sure you wipe up any excess moisture.

Calling In a Pro for General Checkups and Serious Repairs

Playing the keyboard is one thing. Knowing how to repair and maintain one is another. You should leave such matters to a qualified professional. You have enough to worry about with playing, reading music, and touring around the world.

This section gives you tips on hiring piano tuners, piano technicians, keyboard technical support people, and others who can help you maintain and prolong your instrument’s life.

Tuning acoustic keyboards

Okay, so your friend can tune his own guitar, as can your other friends with their violins, clarinets, and kazoos. But keep in mind how much larger your piano is, how many parts are inside, and how much more you probably paid for it. Swallow your pride, pick up the phone, and call a piano technician when it’s time to tune your piano.

Piano technicians are skilled professionals with years of education and experience. And this kind of doctor still makes house calls. It may look like the technician’s just playing keys and tightening screws, but you won’t even know where to begin if you try to do it yourself.

Tip Don’t think that you’ll suddenly hear your piano go out of tune one day. Loss of intonation is a gradual process that takes place over a long period of time. Your tuning will be much overdue if you get to the point where you actually say to yourself, “Wow! My piano’s out of tune.” Schedule a tuning at least once a year — preferably twice a year. Generally, the visit will take two to three hours and cost you between $75 and $150, which is well worth the cost! After you establish a relationship with a technician, he’ll probably contact you each year, so you don’t even have to remember to schedule an appointment for a tuning.

Warning Too many years of tuning neglect results in a piano that’s permanently out of tune. Ever heard an old honky-tonk saloon piano? Sure, the sound is sort of fun, but not when it’s coming from your $30,000 9-foot grand piano. Frequent tuning ensures that the pitch of your piano doesn’t drop (a condition that’s reparable but sometimes problematic) and that any problems with the tuning pins, which are tightened and loosened during tuning, or the pinblock, which holds the pins, can be fixed as they arise.

Tip You can get recommendations for a good piano technician from friends, teachers, music stores, and music schools. Then check the recommendations against the member directory of the Piano Technicians Guild at www.ptg.org, which includes individuals who have earned the distinction of Registered Piano Technician (RPT). Don’t just select at random from the phone book; a bad technician can ruin a piano.

In addition to tuning, I highly recommend asking the technician to have a look under the hood and make sure everything else is functioning properly. Ask the technician these questions:

  • Do the pedals work?
  • Are the legs secure?
  • Are there any problems with the action?
  • Is the soundboard cracked?

Keeping digital keyboards happy

You don’t need to tune your digital keyboard. However, it does need some occasional attention. If you keep your keyboard clean and dust-free, chances are it will work and sound just fine for quite some time.

Warning Over time, through constant pushing and pulling, the little buttons, digital displays, knobs, sliders, and other gizmos on a digital keyboard experience normal wear and tear. If a button appears to be stuck, don’t try to fix it yourself with one of your own tools. Call a professional — perhaps the dealer who sold you the instrument originally or the manufacturer for a dealer reference. For a minimal fee, the dealer can assess the damage (if any) and fix it for you. If your warranty is still good (usually only for one year), repairs may cost you absolutely nothing.

Warning Never, ever, under any circumstances should you unscrew or open the top of your keyboard. Sure, it looks really cool inside with all the computer chips and circuit boards. Sure, you think you know what you’re doing and want to save a buck by fixing a problem yourself. But opening up your keyboard voids your warranty automatically and more than likely damages your keyboard irreparably.

Dealing with serious keyboard problems

Unfortunately, some keyboard problems can arise that require some serious time, effort, and money to fix. If you experience any of the following problems, you should get estimates from at least two separate technicians before deciding whether or not to salvage your instrument:

  • The soundboard on your acoustic piano cracks or breaks. The soundboard is the large, polished board under the strings. The soundboard can break during a move performed by unqualified movers. It can also break due to constant changes in humidity that cause the wood to swell and contract. You probably won’t notice a broken soundboard on your own, so have your piano technician check out the soundboard for you during each tune-up.
  • You hear only a thump when you press an acoustic piano key. Either the hammer, damper, or both are not functioning properly. You may have to replace the mechanism for that one key or replace the entire set of keys and hammers. Hope for the first option. Of course, the culprit could also just be a broken string, which can be fixed for under $20.
  • Your digital keyboard won’t power on. First, make sure you paid last month’s electric bill. Unless you have a battery-operated keyboard with old batteries, your keyboard should always power on when plugged in correctly. If not, it may be dead.
  • Your LCD display shows nothing legible. If the words and program names on the front panel display of your digital keyboard are suddenly a bunch of meaningless letters, the brains of your board may be fried.
  • You spill liquid all over your digital keyboard. You probably just shorted out the entire board. Few, if any, of your buttons and keys are going to work. This is why you should never have a drink on or near your keyboard. If you spill anything on a digital keyboard, the first thing to do is to shut the power off. To minimize the damage, let it dry out completely before turning the power on again.
  • You spill liquid on your acoustic piano. Quickly get a towel and start sopping it up. The wood, strings, hammers, and even keys may be damaged, but at least there isn’t anything electrical to bug out.

Remember A few mishaps that seem terrible actually aren’t that bad, including pedals falling off, strings breaking, headphone jacks snapping off inside the unit, and even keys sticking. True, these are big headaches, but they aren’t serious problems. Just leave the problem alone and call a professional for help.

Taking the Worry Out of Moving Your Acoustic Piano

Take these three pieces of advice when it comes to moving your piano:

  • Don’t ever try to move the piano by yourself or with friends.
  • Confirm that you’re using qualified piano movers.
  • Don’t watch the move. You should definitely be present to watch the movers and make sure they take extreme care when moving your precious baby. But you’re guaranteed to grimace when you see them flip that piano over on its side. Save yourself the emotional distress and just turn away.

Moving a grand piano involves its own specialized piece of equipment called a piano board. This long, flat board has lots of padding and several handles. The movers lay the piano on its side on this board and strap it all to a dolly. The piano board holds your baby securely and cushions any jarring bumps. If your movers show up without a piano board, I strongly advise you to bid them farewell and call new movers. To move upright pianos, movers typically place the piano (upright!) on a flat dolly.

Tip Your local piano dealer can recommend several good moving companies who specialize in piano moving. The good ones actually receive endorsements from piano manufacturers.

Warning If you own or rent an acoustic piano, moving from one residence to another is automatically more expensive. You must hire a qualified piano mover to transfer your baby to its new home. Don’t be cheap about hiring a mover. Inexperienced movers can ruin your piano.