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Hi all,

I am new here, and I just purchased a grand piano. I'm sorry if this question was asked before, but do you all keep the lid open when it's not in use, or do you close it. Thanks for your input.

--Sharon

Leaving the lid open all of the time, whether the piano is in use or not, allows for dust and household pollutants such as cooking grease etc. to collect on the plate, soundboard and strings a lot easier than if the lid were closed and only opened for playing etc. The sound board is a pain to clean.


GP

Thanks so much grandpianoman, I certainly wouldn't want dust and house pollutants collecting inside my piano.

I just purchased a grand piano and I plan to keep the lid closed too. I don't want any dust to collect on the soundboard. It is very hard to clean the inside of the piano without damaging the soundboard. It also keeps the kids wandering curious exploring finger. Also you need to worry about curious adults who cant seem to resist playing with the strings inside the piano. Keep the lid closed.

a cover doesnt help when you have kids and a cat

You're welcome Skradke...you might want to also consider a string cover at some point. It will help in keeping out the dust and household pollutants along with keeping the lid closed. It's also beneficial for the bass strings, they don't get dull sounding and the copper does not tarnish as fast. (it takes a number of years for that to happen, depending on the climate etc) One of the best out there is the Edwards string cover.

http://edwardsstringcovers.com/

In fact, you could keep your lid open with a string cover such as the Edwards, and you would hardly have any accumulation of dust etc. I have seen grands that had a string cover in place from from when they were new, and 10 years later, they still looked almost new.

GP

I use an Edwards String Cover in my Estonia, but I still lower the lid when I'm not playing the piano. I am a little less diligent about folding down the music desk and closing the front lid than I was before I had the string cover.

Regards

Do you find that the string covers affect the tone of the piano? The volume? Neither?

Edwards also sells sound reduction kits. Anyone use one of those? I'm experiencing a problem with high frequency reverberation in my high ceilinged, glass filled piano room.

I belive it does Piano*Dad,,,,it will help 'mute' the sound a bit, highs will be quietier ...it may help to lessen the high frequency reverb in your situation.

GP

Oh wow, this is great, I'm learning so much from this forum. About how much can I expect to spend for stringcovers?

I take this one step further. I keep the lid closed and a vinyl cover over the piano, so that dust and pollutants can't get in through the space between the lid and the rim.

There was a thread here a couple months back where somebody, I forget who (my memory stinks, if you haven't figured that out already), posted recordings of the same piece played with and without the string cover. I and several other posters couldn't hear a difference in either the volume or tone, but admittedly that was with imperfect computer speakers.

The Edwards String Cover for my 6'3" (190 cm) Estonia was about $420.00 (US) including shipping. It does mute the high frequencies slightly, and to my taste that's not a disadvantage.

Regards,

Thanks for the info Bruce. Sounds like a worth while investment

Hi skradke,

Although a technician taught me how to clean the soundboard (and I'm good at it), I still keep the lid down most of the time. When I do my once-a-year soundboard cleaning, there is really not much dust in there. If I've been practicing and want to switch into performance mode, then I'll treat myself and open the lid for awhile, but promptly close it again immediately after the practice session is over.

An easy (and lazy) test is to refrain from dusting the lid for a week. Then take a good look as you make that first pass dusting off the surface. That same visible dust would have been INSIDE the piano had you left the lid open--perish the thought!!

I try to remember to close the lid but I forget. Besides, everyone prefers the look of the piano with the lid open, at least at shortstick. So, once a week, I use a small vacuum cleaner (hose attached to output) to blow out the inside of the piano, starting from the pinblock and working to the other end. Then I vaccum out the remaining dust from the tail end and the exposed side of the soundboard. This seems to work although I'm sure it's better to close the lid and use a string cover.

BruceD wrote
I've often wondered about this. Does it really matter, particularly if the piano is used on a daily basis?

Lance

I take this even a step further. I close the lid, put on the cover, then I shrink-wrap the whole thing in plastic and packing tape.

Ok, I'm being a bit of a smart-*** here. I'm actually pretty terrible about closing the lid on my piano.

But seriously, to revive a great idea (posted here a while back) for newer posters who probably haven't seen it, you might look into one of these...It's a nifty little set of cleaning tools that hooks up to a standard vacuum:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BSJCLY/ref=dp_return_1/102-3020224-1200140?%5Fencoding=UTF8&n=172282&s=electronics

Better yet, here's a link to the old thread:

http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/1/9554.html#000017

I liked that vacuum cleaner attachment in the old thread, but I like this rechargable leaf-blower even better. The soundboard, bridges, plate, strings, etc... don't have a spec of dust - it takes 20 seconds once a week.