Piano room humidity min/max

AndyD

Because the room has the half-height 4 pane window above the window seat and two full height 4 panes as well, it is flooded with light. The piano is on the North wall.

We live on a hill which is often windy, and foggy. Two days this week we were living in cloudy drizzle and the RH was around 60-65.

Steve Miller

Those doors are spectacular!

wtg

@Steve-Miller said in Piano room humidity min/max:

Those doors are spectacular!

Dog is sweet, too!

pique

@AndyD above 60 percent strings will rust

pique

Now having seen your room setup, I urge you to get a dehumidifier and keep the doors closed. But as this looks to be an ancient American upright, it has probably been through far worse. Does it stay in tune?

wtg

@AndyD - The piano in the photo - that's the Bluthner B upright you talked about in the piano buying thread you started a few months ago on WTF, right? The one you bought in the early 2000s?

Speaking of piano buying...are you still shopping?

AndyD

Yes wtg, that's our golden sounding Bluthner which has not been tuned since 2019 and also moved 300 miles north.
Yet according to my digital guitar tuner (and ear when playing along e.g. with Stephanie Trick) it is still in tune. But it's going to get TLC very soon.

The grand piano search will probably take significant time, don't hold your breath, especially as the house still needs thousands spent on it.

Steve, thanks, the doors were installed by a pro carpenter, a cousin of mine who took a week to make a frame etc and fit them... perfectly. It's a real pleasure watching someone with traditional skills.

Pique, that's one of the new dehumidifiers placed (temporarily) to the left of the piano. Good point about strings and other metal bits like the tuning pegs potentially rusting. You obviously take great care over your piano.

The RH advice found on the internet is mostly about stability. Basically "keep the RH as constant as possible", one adding "anywhere between 40-70% depending on where you live".
I've just found the advice "don't use a humidifier blowing steam directly onto the piano as it could cause rust".
Guitars apparently like 50-55%.

So I'll aim for a narrower 50-60% range.

pique

[quote]You obviously take great care over your piano.[/quote]

ahahahahahahaha! (I can't find a rothflol emoji)

www.grandobsession.com

AndyD

Fantastic, you wrote a book about your hobby, what, like learning to play and then the search to find 'the one', and building a mini-concert hall home extension

Was it a best seller?

But your fallboard, what's really written there?

pique

@AndyD Grotrian-Steinweg.

The book was named an Ediitor's Choice at the NYT and a best book of the year by thw WaPo.

It's stll selling. I'm still getting letters from readers.

You would learn a lot about everything piano if you read it.

AndyD

Kudos for choosing a Grotrian, I liked a couple I found to play back in 2003 and they made my top 5, though can't find any new in the uk today.
Guessing you visited Germany to shop.

I'm obviously not quite as obsessive as you but in Durham Cathedral a fortnight ago I saw the stewards uncovering and unlocking their grand piano for a cello recital.
They moved away to chat and I couldn't resist ...
Boston !

wtg

@AndyD So what did you play?

pique

@AndyD nope. Found it in NYC

CHAS

Andy D,
Like the room, the doors, and the piano.

C

wtg

@CHAS said in Piano room humidity min/max:

Andy D,
Like the room, the doors, and the piano.

C

Don't forget the dog....

AndyD

@pique And I found your book here!
It will be interesting to read and maybe compare with a chap over here in Kent, Richard Dain, who, with Wayne Stuart and Steingraeber, designed built and produces his own brand of piano 🤪.

AndyD

@wtg What would have been appropriate in an ancient English Norman Cathedral?
Hmmm, French national anthem?

wtg

@AndyD said in Piano room humidity min/max:

@wtg What would have been appropriate in an ancient English Norman Cathedral?
Hmmm, French national anthem?

Earlier in the thread you said you like to play along with Stephanie Trick, so I thought maybe you'd give that Boston a workout with something like this:

Link to video

back at ya....

AndyD

@wtg That woman can stride!

But look on youtube for her playing Memories of You. (It's not stride)
The one in her flowery dress is a beautiful improvisation and that's what I've been learning from. Her ever so slight hesitations and fumbles make it even more endearing and authentic. Lovely transition from straight into swing.
Looking at her playing the same song in her black dress you see her LH can only just reach some 10ths, pinky clipping the whites.

Sorry, I guess most here will be playing classical. What about you, and what piano captured your heart?

wtg

Link to video

That is very nice...

@AndyD said in Piano room humidity min/max:

I guess most here will be playing classical. What about you, and what piano captured your heart?

See a note, play a note. Tin ear, too. Which means that my piano needs are pretty basic, and my Roland keyboard works for me. Also saves me a ton of money, as I don't yearn for a really nice acoustic! It would be wasted on me.

I took piano lessons when I was a kid but I have zero musical ability. I've left behind the Rachmaninoff preludes of my youth, for which the world is eternally grateful.

I really don't play much these days, but when I do, I'm just noodling along, playing some pieces from the Great American Songbook.

As far as music I listen to, it used to be mostly classical but now I just stream The Jazz Groove and listen to whatever they're playing.

I'm trying to be as low maintenance as possible as I get older.

WTF-Beta

Piano room humidity min/max