Piano Keyboard Dust Cover

[ainmpiano]

Our house is reasonably dusty (cat, kid, dad), and dust does build up on the baby grand keyboard cover.
Every time I lift up the keyboard cover, from a flat to a vertical position, I imagine that some of the dust on the cover gets pulled down by gravity, down inside the piano, at the back of the keys.
I am not really meticulous enough to wipe clean the keyboard cover every morning before I lift it up to play...(a little lazy).
Should I dust the keyboard cover once a week and stop worrying, or is there a dust cover available for the keyboard cover?
I see dust covers for sale that go right on the keys...inside the keyboard cover.
Thanks.
Mac

[indianajo]

Don't worry.
On my console, it takes about 10 minutes to remove the keyboard cover and the rail holding down the keys.  Four screws on my console.  
Then it takes about 20 minutes to remove every key. Mine are numbered in pencil from the factory; you may have to write on yours.  Then you can clean the trough under them.  Twenty minutes to put them back.  Back the screws out up to 3/4 turn, pushing down slightly,  to reengage the old thread troughs in the wood before tightening up, no damage. The screw pops when it lines up, then tighten.
Once every lifetime, if you left your cover up for decades (I did) this needs to be done.  
Or, buy a $1 wash cloth and swipe the keyboard cover most times before you open it.  And remember to close it when not playing, which I didn't. 

[visitor]

decent cleaning as needed and i use one of these right over the tops of my keys when I'm not playin. my fall board stays open 90% of the time, but it's probably preferred to  close the fall board and utilize the felt cover, i'm just a bit lazy about it but trying to fix that.  this works for me, and I just dust extra if i'm playing and i find there's a few places with build up



a good detail (depending on how often/how long you play) with cory bright spray clean cleaner and a wipe down of each key periodically will help too

[quantum]

On my piano, the fall board and keys get a pass with a microfibre cloth every few days.  This includes the nameplate side of the fall board that tends to collect fingerprints.  It does not take much time, and I consider part of owners responsibilities to maintaining the instrument. 

Once or twice a year the piano gets cleaned inside.  Use blower to remove dust on top of the sound board.  Remove fall board and action to get inside with vacuum cleaner. 

Pianists have it relatively easy when it comes to daily maintenance.  Think about woodwind players that need to swab the inside of their instrument after practice, and sometimes in the middle of performance. 

[ainmpiano]

Thanks for all the answers.

I guess I'll just keep the keyboard cover down when I am not playing, and put a soft cloth on the piano, to remind me to wipe down the keyboard cover once a week.
I guess that is better than nothing.
Mac

[ted]

I have found that the strip of felt which came with the piano is useful for preventing moisture condensing on top of the keys. Unless I am playing it my piano is always shut with the felt in place. It has just been my habit over forty-five years. I don't really care about dust, a vacuum and clean every couple of months will do for that. I didn't realise the felt strip was a dust cover, and had always assumed it was there to prevent condensation. Shows how much I know about my own instrument.