4 ms·

Wow, 4 comments on this post and two are about cracked Bechstein soundboards!

reikonomusha 4y ago
This is rarely a defect of the piano as built, and more that people don't realize that pianos NEED an environment with a stable humidity of about 45% year-round. If humidity changes drastically, the wood will crack and the piano action will suffer. This is true for any brand of piano. You can either install a humidity control system (known as "Dampp-Chaser systems") onto the piano itself, or invest in whole-home humidity control. The latter is always preferable when possible. If you don't do either of these, the piano—even the $250,000 ones—will fall apart over the course of a decade or two. Almost all used pianos held onto by people who don't play (e.g., the piano is furniture) almost always are busted.
- mikestew 4y ago
  This is rarely a defect of the piano as built, and more that people don't realize that pianos NEED an environment with a stable humidity of about 45% year-round. This is true of any wood instrument, a guitar being one most familiar to folks. There are humidity control options for smaller instruments, too. All kinds of damage can result, such as sunken or collapsed tops (especially arch topped instruments that can be under a lot of string pressure, such as mandolins) or cracks as in a piano's soundboard. My solution was to move to Seattle where our house generally stays at the perfect 35-45% humidity, and all the instruments are happy.
- aidenn0 4y ago
  Do uprights need that? My house varies from 5% humidity to 93% humidity...
  - reikonomusha 4y ago
    Yes, uprights are definitely affected, in some cases even worse than a grand piano, because the soundboard is abutted to a wall/heat register/whatever with an upright. (Never put pianos near radiators or heat registers!)
    - kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 4y ago
      My piano tuner was adamant that all uprights need to be on interior walls, which I agree with. That lessens the temperature swings.
  - Nition 4y ago
    Having a Dampp Chaser in it will help a lot with it staying in tune, at the very least.
geff82 4y ago
This can happen on all pianos. Do not forget that having „a Steinway“ or a „Bechstein“ for many people means that the piano is 100 years old (I think of my neighbor‘s 100 year old Steinway with a cracked soundboard, too). In so many years, a lot can happen. And in 100 years, the piano will sure not have been kept in perfect environmental conditions (which is a difficult topic for piano owners).
- AlbertCory 4y ago
  It's true, that "older is better" is only true up to a point. A 40-year-old Steinway? Probably great. A 120-year-old? Not so much.

This is rarely a defect of the piano as built, and more that people don't realize that pianos NEED an environment with a stable humidity of about 45% year-round. If humidity changes drastically, the wood will crack and the piano action will suffer. This is true for any brand of piano. You can either install a humidity control system (known as "Dampp-Chaser systems") onto the piano itself, or invest in whole-home humidity control. The latter is always preferable when possible. If you don't do either of these, the piano—even the $250,000 ones—will fall apart over the course of a decade or two. Almost all used pianos held onto by people who don't play (e.g., the piano is furniture) almost always are busted.

mikestew 4y ago
This is rarely a defect of the piano as built, and more that people don't realize that pianos NEED an environment with a stable humidity of about 45% year-round. This is true of any wood instrument, a guitar being one most familiar to folks. There are humidity control options for smaller instruments, too. All kinds of damage can result, such as sunken or collapsed tops (especially arch topped instruments that can be under a lot of string pressure, such as mandolins) or cracks as in a piano's soundboard. My solution was to move to Seattle where our house generally stays at the perfect 35-45% humidity, and all the instruments are happy.
aidenn0 4y ago
Do uprights need that? My house varies from 5% humidity to 93% humidity...
- reikonomusha 4y ago
  Yes, uprights are definitely affected, in some cases even worse than a grand piano, because the soundboard is abutted to a wall/heat register/whatever with an upright. (Never put pianos near radiators or heat registers!)
  - kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 4y ago
    My piano tuner was adamant that all uprights need to be on interior walls, which I agree with. That lessens the temperature swings.
- Nition 4y ago
  Having a Dampp Chaser in it will help a lot with it staying in tune, at the very least.

geff82 4y ago

This can happen on all pianos. Do not forget that having „a Steinway“ or a „Bechstein“ for many people means that the piano is 100 years old (I think of my neighbor‘s 100 year old Steinway with a cracked soundboard, too). In so many years, a lot can happen. And in 100 years, the piano will sure not have been kept in perfect environmental conditions (which is a difficult topic for piano owners).

AlbertCory 4y ago
It's true, that "older is better" is only true up to a point. A 40-year-old Steinway? Probably great. A 120-year-old? Not so much.