Keeping an old piano in tune?

[fuel925]

I have a piano from the 20's or 30's, is there any tips on keeping an older piano in tune for longer?

[jeremyjchilds]

How bad is it...

Old pianos usually are stable, so if it absolutely refuses to stay in tune, then you may have a pinblock problem...let's really hope not.

A much better situation would be that you haven't tuned the piano for a number of years, and when the pitch was raised, the piano stubbornly wants to go back to where it was.

If the second is the case, then the piano will need to be tuned at least 3x for this year...just to coax it back up to standard pitch.

Let me know more about the piano..

[jeremyjchilds]

Sorry, I forgot the easy answers...

Keep it away from an outside wall, far from windows, and away from heat sources. Don't blast the heat in the wintertime.

In General, Humidity changes are the absolute worst enemy.

[teresa_b]

Good advice...I had to put my Steinway next to an outside wall by windows!  (In Florida!  ) So what I ended up doing is buying a $700 humidity control system ("Dampp-Chaser") with a heating bar and a humidifier placed beneath the piano.  This system keeps it at a constant humidity level, and has worked great.  (The price tag was a little hard to swallow, but it was worth it--the unit has been in place more than 8 years.  I do have a good piano tech who tunes, and looks at the system 3 times a year.)

Teresa

[jeremyjchilds]

The humidity control system is of the utmost importance in humid climates.

But know that even more devistating to a piano is a climate that changes from humid in the summer to dry and cold in the winter (Causeing you to crank your furnace high and dry out the air even more) The natural oils of the wood will dimish from this expansion and contraction, bridges will pull from soundboards, joints will come apart, tuning blocks will fail. Consistency is everything, and that is where the control system comes in.

The absolute worst possible situation would be for a piano to live in a stable humid environment for a number of years and then move to a cold dry furnace-heated environment. You can practically watch it fall apart. (and watch your tech struggle endlessly with the tuning pins)
-I guess that is where the whole fiasco about used pianos from asia comes into play-especially if they are moved to north dakota for instance...