Relative humidity and your piano Yamaha, Kawai, Steinway, Baldwin etc ...

Relative humidity (RH) is the amount of humidity contained in the air, compared to the maximum amount of humidity that the air is able to retain. The moisture content of the air is affected by weather conditions as well as conditions and activities inside the home, while the moisture retention capacity of the air varies with temperature. As the relative humidity of the air in a room increases, humidity tends to transfer from the air to the wood and other absorbent materials in the room, because wood absorbs moisture. Consider that a large part of the materials used for your piano is wood. The most vulnerable part of the wood is the soundboard. When the RH of the air decreases, the humidity of the wood is transferred to the air, in other words, the wood becomes drier (and changes its shape slightly). One result of this constant fluctuation in the moisture content of your piano wood is the change in shape of the soundboard. Since the strings of the piano are played on an easel glued to the soundboard, it goes without saying that the tension on the strings will also change, accelerating the variation of the piano tuning. Of course, it’s not just your piano that suffers when the inside of your home is very dry. It also affects people (and animals) living in the house. It turns out that humans and pianos like the relative humidity to be around 40-50% Solutions? All of this means to the piano owner that cold weather usually means dry conditions in the house, and it is not good for your piano or for you. A room humidifier can certainly help, but even with a whole room humidifier, the atmosphere around the piano may not be stable enough. One solution is a humidity control system specially designed for pianos. The Dampp-Chaser / Piano Life Saver system is a complete system that monitors and balances humidity in the immediate area of ​​the piano itself. It contains a humidistat which constantly monitors the air inside the piano itself and automatically adds humidity when needed, it can also turn on the dehumidifier rods when the humidity is too high (usually in summer in hot climates). To install the Dampp-Chaser system, you can contact us for full details and costs.