A Note on Piano Cleaning, Sep 2026

A piano can look nice with the lid down. But the inside may not have been cleaned for decades. This is the case we usually find. This note is on cleaning a grandpiano this time. Improvement is needed for future services. Many of the methods are learned from Xuanheng Ma, technician and rebuilder in Beijing, China. I am very grateful to have known him.

The soundboard is filled with dust from who knows when, possibly from 10 to 30 or more years ago. The suppliers sell this type of clearning tool that can go between the strings onto the soundboard. The red cloth on the metal plate has been changed for multiple times. After each stroke, the cloth is cleaned on a wet baby wipe. I don't usually have a vacuum on hand. It would be nice to have it though. The baby wipe is to keep the flying dust to the minimum. Xuanheng uses a small power blower to blow off dust on soundboards that are fairly clean.

The difficult-to-reach area on the soundboard is cleaned with a metal rod with baby wipe weaved on one end. One needs to be careful not to scrape the soundboard nor the case. It is not surprising to see how much wipes are needed for the decades of dust.

The tuning pin area is swept with a brush. Again, a small vacuum would be great to use here. Also the brush can be stiffer for a better scraping and cleaning job. It's time to invest. The larger debris is picked with tweezers. 

The damper heads, keytops, and plate surface are also cleaned with baby wipes. The wipes dry very fast, should be good not to bring too much moisture into the piano.

Lesson:
1. I should go to get a small vacuum cleaner.
2. Always bring trash bags to the appointments rather than using my pant pockets.
3. The area at the back of the bridge and under the plate is difficult to reach but should be cleaned. A method for it shall be found.