Cleaning a grand piano. . .

[alzado]

Our grand piano was getting pretty dusty inside.   I had been thinking of giving it a good cleaning when good fortune came my way.

We got "stuck" to see a vacuum cleaner demonstration.  We really did not want to, but someone we know was in training with the vacuum company as a sales rep, and asked us as a favor to listen to her "spiel."

Anyway, as she was really getting into it, she was only ten feet from our grand piano.  Since she was going to demonstrate anyway, I suggested we try to clean the piano.

She gave me the equipment and turned it on.  First, I suctioned the piano pretty thoroughly, mainly inside the case. We also removed the music rack to vacuum around the pinblock.  And we went over the keyboard, as best we could get at it short of removing it. When we turned off the vacuum, we had an impressive amount of dust and grit accumulated on a little paper filter she uses.

Then she suggested we turn the vacuum to "blow," give it a good blasting, and -- finally -- set it for suction and do the whole thing again.  The idea was to loosen up more dust.

On the "blow" set-up, there were actually clouds of dust spouting up out of the piano. It was quite amazing.  Much of this dust floated away in the room.  However, there was enough loosened dust remaining in the case so that the final vacuuming managed to fill up another one of those paper filters with quite a bit more dust.  We may not have gotten ALL the dust out of that piano, but we did some real good.

Sometimes on this forum you see persons so adverse to dust that they do things I would never do.  One contributor indicated she has a large grand that is NEVER opened.  I mean, even on the short stick.  This is due to her aversion to dust.  However, it may also reflect an aversion to SOUND, since -- to my ear -- grands played totally closed sound muffled and somewhat dead.

I have sometimes wondered if music stores and even independent piano technicians provide grand cleaning as a service.  Not in our small city, I am afraid.  But this might be a good source of income for some out there.

My advice . . . . if you are ever "stuck" to watch a vacuum cleaner demonstration, remember your piano!

[daniloperusina]

Cleaning a grand properly would take some time, but I'm surprised that you say that pianotechnicians will not do it.
It should include pulling out the action and vacuuming in there; also, much more time-consuming, to remove all the keys from the key-bed to vacuum there. Or perhaps one could use the 'blow' function for that?
I've also seen special cleaning tools for the soundboard. Mainly a sort of cloth attached to a long thin piece of some metal, constructed so that you can reach the whole soundboard from underneath the strings.
Anyone could actually learn to do that, as it doesn't involve any particular skill as opposed to tuning or repairing.

[quantum]

I've got a shop vac with a blow function too, and I use that about 2 times a year to blow the dust from under the strings.  I wear a mask to avoid breathing the plume of dust that fills the room. 

I usually vacuum the piano once a month to keep the dust buildup from happening, and also since new dust is easier to remove than dust that has been there a long time.  I've pulled out the action and vacuumed inside there as well.

My lid stays open all the time.   

[gerry]

I didn't think that vacuum cleaner salesmen still went door-to-door. At least they didn't toss dirt into your piano in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of their product.

[lostinidlewonder]

The best idea is prevention. I use to have my grand in a home which was very dusty,  as a prophylactic I put a big nylon cloth over the frame to cover the strings, sound is very slightly dampened but it preserves the inside at least.

Blowing the instrument can push dust and bits and pieces into nooks and crannies over time but it is the fastest way to do it. I went so far as to construct straws at the end of a vacuum and got in between the strings to suck all the small bits out. Its very time consuming but once you do it cover the instrument inside, or you simply will be cleaning it every month.

Keep the lid closed Open only rarely.

[rachfan]

I have a low tech solution for getting the dust off the soundboard of my Baldwin L.  Years ago I asked my tuner about the best way to clean the soundboard.  He then reached into his tool box, produced an odd object, and said I could have it, as he had several.  It was a very thin strip of a white material similar to a shirt collar "bone", but this was 15" long by 1/4" wide.  I asked him what in the world it was, and he replied that it was a corsette bone!  He said he had requested and had been given several by a couple of nuns at a convent where he was tuning their piano.  I have to say it works like a charm, and it's very flexible, bending easily under the strings. 

So I take a dust rag or old t-shirt and start it at the bass side of the grand near the tail of the piano.  I then work it around the soundboard using the corsette bone to direct it,  eventually reaching the edge near the pinblock, where I then push the cloth with the bone back out under the entire scale to the far bass side again where I can retrieve it, dust and all.  Normally, the piano lid is down.  I raise it only when I want to try out a piece following practicing--keeps the dust accumulation down.  So I only have to do this procedure once a year.  Once done, the soundboard looks brand new.  To take care of the pinblock, and near the edge of the case, I just use the brush attachment on the vaccuum cleaner.  At the same time, I slide the action out of the case, vaccuum it and the entire cavity underneath the keybed and pinblock.