Mechanical Music Digest  Archives
You Are Not Logged In Login/Get New Account
Please Log In. Accounts are free!
Logged In users are granted additional features including a more current version of the Archives and a simplified process for submitting articles.
Home Archives Calendar Gallery Store Links Info

End-of-Year Fundraising Drive In Progress. Please visit our home page to see this and other announcements: https://www.mmdigest.com     Thank you. --Jody

MMD > Archives > March 2005 > 2005.03.14 > 06Prev  Next


Protecting Instrument Against Humidity Extremes
By Bruce Clark

What would I do?  Faced with the same problems in my own home, I do
not encourage using electrical piano "toasting" or "steaming" devices
to add or subtract moisture on the interior of a piano and not on the
exterior of the piano.

The reason: if you add moisture to one side of a piece of wood and
not the other, the result is stress and warping of the wood.  But if
the same amount of moisture or dryness is applied to both sides of
the wood it will remain stable and have much less stress.

In my opinion, the best solution would be to make an attempt at
climatizing the room in which the piano is located.  This can be
accomplished by keeping all doors and windows to the room closed,
using air conditioning in the summer, plus heat if it gets too cold,
and using a room humidifier during the very dry months when artificial
indoor heat is required.

In spite of making the best attempts in using air conditioning and
humidifiers, one cannot precisely regulate the exact percentage of
humidity within a room, but one can reduce the extremes. In my case,
I can increase the humidity to 35% in winter and reduce it in summer
to 50%.  This is far better than 5% in winter and 95% in summer.

Another concern is glue joints.  Keeping the humidity relatively stable
in a room will protect glue joints, too.

It is my belief that Phenoseal would eventually cause more problems
than it is worth.  I am reminded of this from experiences in the boat
industry where a few years ago it became a fad to fiberglass interior
and exterior of wooden boats.  In theory it made sense, but the
fiberglass coating did not cover 100% of the wood, and moisture
eventually became trapped between the layers, causing the wood to rot
and make matters worse.

Bruce Clark


(Message sent Mon 14 Mar 2005, 16:58:28 GMT, from time zone GMT-0800.)

Key Words in Subject:  Against, Extremes, Humidity, Instrument, Protecting

Home    Archives    Calendar    Gallery    Store    Links    Info   


Enter text below to search the MMD Website with Google



CONTACT FORM: Click HERE to write to the editor, or to post a message about Mechanical Musical Instruments to the MMD

Unless otherwise noted, all opinions are those of the individual authors and may not represent those of the editors. Compilation copyright 1995-2024 by Jody Kravitz.

Please read our Republication Policy before copying information from or creating links to this web site.

Click HERE to contact the webmaster regarding problems with the website.

Please support publication of the MMD by donating online

Please Support Publication of the MMD with your Generous Donation

Pay via PayPal

No PayPal account required

                                     
Translate This Page