Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1892-08-20
THE CARE OF A PIANO.

aThe care of the piano must be be-
gpn the moment il enters the house"
piauo maker said to q n Y. sun
man. ~and to be effective it calls for
the employment of some good COM
mon sense. If it be an upright piano
do not stand it close to the wall, I'M
less YOU prefer to have the tone
muffed. 1t will sound best across a
corner of the room, Keep piano in
the winter in the coolest part Of the
room. not exposed, of course, to frost
or dampness The hot sun, particu-
larly when shining on the piano
through glass, viii sometimes blister
the varnlsb Neither is il GOOD TO
keep the instrument in a dark part Of
the room, as the ivory keys are more
likely to grow yellow and there j.
greater danger of moths.
Nine times out of ten the buzzing
or singing noises that are so frequently
heard are outside of the piano. 1t may
DE the mica i'm the stove, or hanging
lamp near by. or an easel on the piano.
or score Of other things whose key
notes vibrate in sympathy with
the tones of the instrument. In the
horizontal piano small particles. such
their way into the sounding board and
cause great annoyance.
The m It serious injuries that be-
fall pianos are usually the results Of
temperature; either it is too dry or
too dam<. The incompetent tuner
does great harm, but the extremes of
air or moisture do more harm than all
the tuners alive. From careful observ-
alton it is safe to say that 80 per cent.
of the pianos in cold ATTITUDES have,
after the first year, one or more cracks
in their sounding boards. If your
house is heated by stoves put the in
strumeut in room without a stove
in one that is heated from an adjoining
room ii YOU have steam or furnace
or any of the other modern methods of
heating. your piano will do better if
keptin a room that is not quite warm
enough for comfort.
you know the sounding board-the
life OF a piano-is forced into the case
when it is made SO tightly that it
bulgcs up in the center. The wood is
supposed to be as dry as possible, but,
of course, it contains some moisture
and gathers a lot more on damp days,
and i'm handling. Now, when YOU put
piano in an oyerheated dry room all
this moisture is dried out, and the
board loses its "belly" and gets tlabby
and finally cracks. Even if it does
not crack the tone loses its resonance
and crows thin and tinny, and the felt
cloth and leather used in the action
dry up, the whole mechanism rattles,
and the piano is blamed,
How can you prevent it? Easily
enough. Keep growing plant in the
room, and as long as your plant thrives
Your piano ought to, or else there is
something wrong with 1t. just try it
aU. -eu IJW much more wafer YOU
will have % pour on the flower in he
room where your piano is than on the
plant, In AIRY other room. Some people
keep huge vase or urn, with a sop
piuS-wct sroIge in ii, near or under
the piano, and they do this as long as
their fires are kept up.
sudden changes from cold To heat
will cause moisture, which is injurious
q to the finish and will rust the strings
n and pins of your instrument. But
piano in a room that is freezing cold,
even 40 degrees below zero for that
Y matter, can be gradually warmed and
receive less harm in five years of such
treatment than it viii during one win
ter in the same climate if subjected to
continuous heat of IS degrees.
Z Every one has observed after pur-
chasing a new piano that it soon takes
on dull, smoky appearance. To re-
move this use fine sponge, tepid
water and CASTLE soap. Go over the
case a little at a time. The water
alone without the soap will usually be
all that is needed A chamois skin as
dry as can be wrung out of water
should be used to dry the surface after
using the sponge. For old pianos
u polish of raw linseed oil (two parts, al
cohoI and best vinegar Zone part
each) may be applied with great re-
suits il care be taken to use a very
little at time and to thoroughly rub
that little off. Shake the polish fire.
qgently, use soft cotton cloth, enc
piece 10 rub it on and large, clean
piece to finish off with. Bruises, usu-
ally on the front, can be taken off by
II rubbing with powdered pumice stone
81 anu water or with sapOiio, Clean the
h KEYS with alcohol and water, equal
a part,
II 10 is impossible to specify the num-
b per Of times year your piano should
II be tuned. A piano, to he kept in fair
condition, should be tuned four times
n ayoar So much depends however,
NJ 'u the temperature, style and make OF
n The instrument, the manner of use, its
condition, etc, that where one piano
n requires five or six tunings annually,
another might get along fairly with
a much less.
N In the matter of tuning there is
u much negligence, people preferrng
81 VII. angular pewersity to let their pi-
Il -a' ~ rack and ruin rather than get
] tuner in time This is the sort
d q Ienny-wise pound-foolish policy
a 1-at buys a cheap piano for begin
LeL i'ndiy expecting musical progress
a " oa made on a poor instrument and
N ".H poor teacher To sum mp. buy
M : .rprced piano from a reliable
a -sa.er and with a well-known name on
~ ia.. board Keep it well after you
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