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I'm considering a move across the country and going from dry to humid. Will this be ok for my piano? I have a Yamaha upright silent piano and am debating between selling it and buying another piano at the new location or paying to have it moved. Thanks for your help.

Have you determined a reasonable selling price for your current piano based on
1) its age,
2) its condition and
3) your local market for a used Yamaha upright,

as well as keeping it and determining the cost of shipping it cross-country? These should be factored into your decision.

Regards,

Hello, edwardmatt83,

I'm no pro, but I have been around acoustic pianos long enough to know that they don't like too much humidity. Temperature swings are not too bad, but high levels of %RH will ruin or damage an acoustic piano. At a minimum, it will cause problems, with the tuning and other issues.

By the same token, to little %RH/dryness is also not a good thing.

How much humidity it too much? Lots of opinions on that subject, but typically, if you are comfortable in the space, the acoustic piano will be comfortable. That is likely around 40%RH to 60%RH, with 50% being optimal. Occasional swings a little beyond that one way or the other is probably not a bad thing.

Would probably be good to have a digital hygrometer to keep a check on the %RH.

In regards to selling your piano rather than moving it, and buying another when you get settled in your new location, that is strictly up to you. I guess it depends on how much the move would cost, and whether or not it would be worth it to you. Buying a new/used piano is not a simple task.

If it is the dry climate vs. the humid climate you are concerned about, in regards to selling, that is a legitimate concern. As mentioned, it depends on the extremes of %RH difference.

Good luck, and best regards!

Rick

Aside from the questions about moving cost, potential price, etc,. I don’t understand why the humidity change is an issue assuming you have been adjusting the humidity now to add moisture when the RH is too low.

Wouldn’t you just remove the humidity in the new environment, so that the RH is relatively consistent between the dry and wet locations?

Average humidity in my current location is 40%. The new location is around 70%. The piano is 1 year old if that makes a difference.

I moved a 37 year old Kawai grand and a 20 year old U1 from a very humid ,warm vicinity across the equator to Vancouver BC. The relative humidity here was far more moderate to really quite dry in winter .(from the interior heating in winter.)
I sold these pianos in 2017. They both remained in very good instruments. In all this time I never used any climate control
devices.The Kawai grand received a great deal of attention to keep it responsive to my playing in the later years.
By 2017 I knew the Kawai needed to be restored or sold.The Yamaha U1 was 10 years younger and the rust on the strings was not as advanced as the Kawai but there were other problems by 2017 as well.
For us it was certainly better that we did bring the
instruments with. With my new piano I use a dehumidifier every day (almost) in the Summer and Fall.

Does your new residence have air conditioning?

Good question, Ed. Mechanical air conditioning is also a dehumidifier.

Speaking of which, I just installed a new HVAC system in my home last week, ductwork and all (or, I should say I helped my son, who has his own HVACR company, install it:-). It works MUCH better than my old system, which was 27 years old. I certainly got my money's worth out my old system. The new system should be much more energy efficient and save on my energy costs/utility bills. It is certainly much quieter than the old system.

My pianos should be happy, or remain happy.

Rick

No matter which piano you own in the new location, you’d want to consider a dehumidifier if the average humidity level is around 70%.

I can’t make a suggestion on moving or selling the piano based on the change in humidity, but you may want to find out the cost of moving a piano to see if it’s worth shipping. 1 year old Yamaha uprights could have the value of $2k to $12k depending on the model.

As had been said controlling the humidity is going to be a good thing. I can't see any advantage in selling your piano and buying again as there isn't really any reason to believe that another piano you buy will tolerate the humidity any more than the one you have. Just give it time to slowly acclimatize to the new conditions by wrapping it up a bit for a few weeks.

Where I live, the winter air is very dry and the summer air is very humid. The combination air conditioning (summer), and whole-house humidifier on the furnace (winter), keeps the humidity inside the house between 40 and 50%. I do have a digital hygrometer next to the piano.

Sir Lurksalot,

Do you mind my asking what kind of whole-house humidifier you have? My Aprilaire allows RH to dip sometimes as low as 25% (according to my cheap hygrometers - 2 of them - next to my piano) in northern New Jersey.

I'm not Sir Lurksalot, so this is my experience. We have a whole house humidifier on the furnace, but it's not enough to keep the RH above 40% on cold, dry days. I use a room humidifier in the room the piano is in to supplement.

A lot is going to depend on just how dry it gets in your location and how airtight the house is. Our house is not very airtight, alas.

Whether you keep your piano or buy a new one, you should have a Dampp Chaser system installed, IMO.

The summer humidity where I live can run as high as 70%. I have a portable de-humidifier that brings it down to 40-50%. It works great.

Agreed ! The only problem is when we go away ,the humidity is
free to drift. Usually we go away for fairly short periods , but we have been away for longer periods when we go on vacation to Europe or South Africa. The piano is always fine however when we return and in fact does not lose much in the way of tuning. Now of we are grounded by the virus.No more flying around for these "old birds" until a vaccine is available.
Regarding the OP' , U1, I think it will be fine if the humidity is controlled most of the time by a dehumidifier or some other
climate controll system .Pianos are tougher than we realise, but of course we need to take care of them.

I have a Honeywell HE300. It's the largest of the HExxx line. When the temperature dips below 20 degrees, I do let the humidity percentage drop into the 30s, otherwise some of the windows will ice-up.

I import pianos from dry to humid.

Get a Dampp Chaser

Thanks

Buying a new piano in your new location won’t solve your issue. The 70% humidity would still be too high and although the Yamaha was kept at lower humidity levels you won’t damage it by subjecting it for a short period of time in that higher humidity environment though it might go out of tune. It takes time for wood to absorb moisture. I would just hire a reputable moving company and have the new space already conditioned at the correct humidity level then just get the piano tuned within a few weeks and you will be fine.