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NFT: acoustic piano humidity control

Rick5 : 2/2/2019 8:38 am
I will probably have to head over to a piano forum, but BBI is often a good initial resource. I have two hollow body guitars, and I use the D'Addario two-way humidification system which works great according to a hygrometer in the case. I would like to find a similar solution for my daughter's piano. The humidity near the piano has been a little low during this cold weather. The hygrometer on the piano is running in the 25% to 33% range over the course of the day recently. The piano is a 1991 Baldwin Acrosonic console. Do you guys worry about humidity, and if so, what do you do to control it? I would rather not use a whole room humidifier as I heard they can lead to condensation in the house and mold.
Put a bucket of water under it  
cosmicj : 2/2/2019 9:11 am : link
Thanks for reminding me. I will do this today.
You don’t need to humidify the room.  
DonQuixote : 2/2/2019 9:46 am : link
Ours is fitted under the instrument, and you fill a reservoir through a tube. There is an LED light to let you know when the reservoir runs low. Your tuner/tech needs to replace the pads from time to time.
RE: You don’t need to humidify the room.  
Rick5 : 2/2/2019 10:21 am : link
In comment 14284264 DonQuixote said:
Quote:
Ours is fitted under the instrument, and you fill a reservoir through a tube. There is an LED light to let you know when the reservoir runs low. Your tuner/tech needs to replace the pads from time to time.

What system do you have? Do you have a link to it?
Yes  
GruningsOnTheHill : 2/2/2019 11:35 am : link
We bought a @1960 Steinway console last year, and it has an internal humidity control that kicks in when the humidity level gets too high. Not sure how necessary it would be in the tri-state metro area, but we live 1 block from the Gulf of Mexico.
I think there was something called a Dampchaser  
jcp56 : 2/3/2019 1:19 am : link
(or something like that) for that purpose when I looked into this, but that was about 15 years ago. If you have a humidifier in the house, shouldn't that suffice?
RE: I think there was something called a Dampchaser  
Rick5 : 2/3/2019 8:24 am : link
In comment 14284916 jcp56 said:
Quote:
(or something like that) for that purpose when I looked into this, but that was about 15 years ago. If you have a humidifier in the house, shouldn't that suffice?

Yeah, that's the one I have heard about. My tech was here yesterday, and he said not to worry about it. He said he gets more concerned about high humidity than humidity around 30%.
RE: I think there was something called a Dampchaser  
DonQuixote : 2/4/2019 3:28 pm : link
In comment 14284916 jcp56 said:
Quote:
(or something like that) for that purpose when I looked into this, but that was about 15 years ago. If you have a humidifier in the house, shouldn't that suffice?


I think that may be our system as well. Installed and maintained by our technician (aside from refilling).

The question about room or house humidification is a good one. To be honest, I tend to let those systems lapse a bit here and there. The one built into the piano is not necessary if you can be counted on to keep the room in good shape. I could not. For me, it was helpful that every time I walked by the instrument, the LED was either red or green, and for whatever reason, I was motivated more by protecting the instrument than by keeping the humidity in the house at some level.
I've had two technicians  
ray in arlington : 2/4/2019 3:34 pm : link
Tell me not to use the systems that are installed under the piano and instead to have a humidifier (and de-humidifier, depending on the season) control the humidity in the room.
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