Humidity Control for Pianos.
Precision Instillation Is Key
GRANDS - $600 UPRIGHTS - $350 (Plus Tax)
Why is it important for your piano to control humidity?
As I noted in PIANO TUNING above, drastic humidity changes are your piano’s worst enemy. Because the piano is basically a wooden instrument, it is always shrinking or expanding due to humidity changes. Excessive humidity causes wood parts to expand and too little humidity causes wooden parts to contract. These humidity changes, over time, cause your piano to go out of tune and often cause more serious damage such as loose tuning pins and cracked soundboards. Again, keeping the humidity around your piano and home between 40% and 50% is ideal for your piano, your wooden furniture and your health.
What are solutions to excessive humidity changes?
We are Wisconsinites and thus we live where the temperature can range be between 20 below and 100 degrees within the span of 12 months.  Our humidity isn’t quite so drastic but it also has a wide range (actually, it’s the high summer dew points that are hard to take!).  Remember the humidity (dew point) can be high here in SE Wisconsin when the temperature is only 70 degrees.  Do you open your windows on those days?  If you do, your piano is groaning!
What can we do?
I tune pianos in many homes in SE Wisconsin (I am the piano tuner near me!) where there is a whole-house air conditioning system abating the summer heat and humidity as well as a whole-house humidifier to combat the dry winter heat and lack of humidity. The pianos in these homes stay in tune much longer and are generally much healthier. Pianos in churches, schools, and apartments aren’t so lucky. I tune a few of those pianos 4+ times a year.
There is a humidity control solution made just for pianos
It is called the DAMPP-CHASER PIANO LIFESAVER HUMIDITY CONTROL SYSTEM and I am a Certified Installer. Briefly, it involves a humidistat that is attached inside or under your piano (grands) that keeps the piano’s humidity constant by automatically adding heat or moisture as needed. It requires some periodic involvement from the piano owner to maintain the water reservoir (a blinking indicator light helps), but it is easy to do. I provide the installation, warranty as well as verbal instructions. This is the ideal solution when whole-house humidity control is not an option. More information can be found online at: www.dampp-chaser.com