Will I don't know what other advice I could give you other than what you have described, because everything you are worried about will come true. I am sure other piano techs will agree that putting a new piano in a church under the conditions you describe will be very harmful to the piano. I don't think even a complete climate control system AND a full cover over the piano will keep this piano in tune, much less keep it from suffering harm in just a few years. If the church want to get a new grand piano, it has two options. One, spend the money to keep the temperature no lower than 55 or 60 degrees during the winter, and then also put a climate control unit AND a full cover over the piano. Second, build a heated insulated box in the sanctuary to keep the piano in. Other than that, as much as I hate to say it, perhaps they should consider a good electronic keyboard of some sort. And even that should be put under cover. Just my 2 cents worth. Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT Piano Tuner/Technician Honolulu, HI Author of The Business of Piano Tuning available from Potter Press www.pianotuning.com -----Original Message----- From: Will Truitt <surfdog at metrocast.net> To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Wed, 9 Jan 2008 2:52 pm Subject: Pianos in the Deep Freeze I would appreciate the advice of those of you on the list pertaining to this topic: One of my customers is the pianist for a 200 year old congregational church here in New Hampshire. Because of the very high cost of heating oil this winter, the church has decided to turn the heat off completely between Sundays. It’s a big, airy church with no insulation in the walls and single pane windows. So, a day or so after services, the interior temperatures will nearly match whatever they are outdoors. Presently, the pianist is using an old upright that has one foot in the grave. The church music committee has just given her $15.000 to buy a new grand piano. But she is concerned that the lack of heat between services in the wintertime will damage the piano, and wonders if the new piano would be an appropriate investment given the conditions it will be kept. She has asked my advice. Some background about our winter climate in New Hampshire. Our winters can be long and cold. We can have protracted cold spells where the overnight lows can be - 10 or – 20. Common overnight lows will be in the single numbers and teens. I have seen pianos that were stored in an unheated truck for a couple of days brought inside to a heated space. Within an hour or so, you will see condensation forming on the exterior of the piano. Because the piano is so cold, I have seen frost form! I think the issues that this piano would face are these: The condensation that is the byproduct of the freeze – thaw cycles will damage the finish of the soundboard and the case, which may lead to crazing. Sluggish and sticking keys will be a common complaint. Strings and other steel parts will rust because of the condensation. Given that the temperature will jack from very low to 60 or 65 degrees in a few hours, I would be concerned about the soundboard cracking due to expansion caused by the rise in temperature. What are your thoughts? Thanks in advance for your offering. Will Truitt ________________________________________________________________________ More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail ! - http://webmail.aol.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20080109/f15e4480/attachment-0001.html
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