Piano Care

According to www.pianoguide.com.au, the most important aspect to buying a piano is that: the dealer you are buying from is a reputable dealer. Gospel Pianos has been growing business since 1987. Gospel Pianos is proud to be the exclusive C.Bechstein dealer in Australia. Gospel Pianos is a company you can trust. From the time of inquiry, to the services provided in your home, Gospel Pianos does its very best to ensure the quality of your product. Piano experts also suggest that a company which carries several brands at one location is a plus, as it allows you to hear different pianos side by side. At Gospel Pianos we have over 12 brands of pianos and over 50 brands of products altogether.

C. Bechstein is one of the number one ranking piano brands in the world. It is a high-end hand-made product with limited production.

Our commercially viable piano Kohler & Campbell is the second highest selling piano in the United States. Kohler & Campbell is an international brand which is recognised worldwide. It has a higher re-sell value and is owned by many American celebrities. It has been seen on episodes of House, Everwood, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Gospel Pianos has in-house piano technicians. With training from the Samick Corporation and American experience, our technicians have over 30 years experience and understand the importance of quality control. A technician’s ability is extremely important.

At Gospel Pianos, customers are very important to us. We take the time to answer all queries and comments and do our best to accommodate our customers. As part of our customer service, we give lucky customers free tickets to concerts and other exciting bonuses.

A new piano’s finish generally requires occasional gentle cleaning with a damp cotton cloth, followed by a soft dry cloth. An occasional polish with a good quality furniture polish can be done, though frequent polishing is not recommended.

When you look inside your piano, you’ll find a cast iron plate or “harp” strung with steel and copper wound strings over a large expanse of wood which is the soundboard. If you look closely, you’ll discover an intricate system of levers, springs and hammers connected to the keyboard. This system which causes the hammers to strike a string when you press a key is called the piano’s ‘action’. It is a marvel of engineering composed largely of wood and wool felt. The mechanism is responsive to the pianist’s touch – from loud thunderous chords – to soft, delicate passages. When a piano leaves the factory, each of its parts is adjusted to a tolerance of a few thousandths of an inch. The process is called ‘action regulation’. Because the wood and felt parts of the action may change dimension due to humidity and wear, the action must be serviced occasionally to maintain its responsive qualities.

Extreme fluctuations from hot to cold or dry to wet weather can be harmful to you piano, resulting in keys or tuning instability. Dryness causes the piano’s pitch to go flat; moisture makes it go sharp. A piano functions best under fairly consistent conditions, which are neither too wet nor too dry, optimally at a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius and 42% relative humidity. Using an air conditioner in humid summer months and adding a humidifier to your central heating system in winter will reduce the extremities of humidity. Room humidifiers and dehumidifiers as well as systems designed to be installed inside of pianos, will control humidity-related disorders still further.

A piano also periodically requires a service called voicing. Because the tone changes as the felt hammers wear, periodic voicing of the hammers is necessary so that your piano will have an even, full tone throughout the entire scale and produce the widest possible dynamic range.

The three components of musical performance that need to be adjusted periodically are the pitch, tone and touch. Tone is maintained by voicing, and touch by servicing the piano action. Piano tuning is the adjustment of the tuning pins so that all strings are of the proper tension (pitch), to have correct sounding musical intervals. An out-of-tune piano or an unresponsive touch can discourage even novice musicians. Regular maintenance can also prevent expensive repairs in the future. It is recommended that a piano be serviced at least two to four times a year to keep a piano sounding good and working properly each time you sit down to play. This is especially important the first year of a piano’s life. Some tuning instability should be anticipated during the first year because of the elasticity of the piano wire, combined with the piano’s normal adjustment to humidity changes in your home. But most importantly, be sure the regular servicing of your piano is performed by a qualified technician.

• Keep your piano in tune
  It was specifically designed to be tuned to the international pitch standard of A-440 cycles per second. Your piano will sound its best and give you and your family the most pleasure when it is tuned regularly and kept in proper condition.
• Keep your piano clean
  Keep the keyboard covered when not in use to prevent dust from accumulating. Clean keys by occasionally wiping them with a damp cloth and drying them immediately. If accumulated debris can’t be removed with a damp cloth, try wiping the cloth on a bar of mild soap or moisten with dishwashing detergent before wiping. Do not use chemicals or solvents to clean piano keys. Call a qualified piano technician to remove anything from the keys you can’t wipe away. When using an aerosol spray polish, do not spray directly onto the piano surface. Rather, spray onto the cloth and then clean the piano. The maintenance of the inner workings of the piano should be left to a qualified piano technician. Resist dusting the inside of your piano, oiling the moving parts, or using moth or insect repellents. Your piano technician will take care of all internal problems.
• Try to maintain a fairly consistent temperature and humidity in the room where your piano is placed
  It’s important to keep your piano away from a heating register in winter, an air conditioning vent in summer, a fireplace, a frequently opened window or outside door and direct sunlight.
• Play your piano regularly
  You’ll get the most enjoyment from it and also reach your potential much faster. A disadvantage to idle pianos, assuming they also suffer a service lapse, is that a detrimental condition or environment can’t be identified and an escalating problem can result in damage that might not have occurred with regular service.
• Keep all drinks and standing liquid containers off the piano
  Should spilled water reach the action, notify your piano technician immediately. In many cases, once liquids are spilled the damage is irreversible, which is why prevention is always the safest rule.