Whether you currently own a piano or are in the market for one, the sooner you know how to care for it, the happier you both will be.
If you have a piano you really should take care of it. Not only will you be protecting your investment but it’s just the right thing to do – after all pianos are people too. Okay that was an exaggeration but it’s not uncommon for a piano owner to become emotionally attached to their instrument which quite naturally engenders the desire to treat it right.
Even if you don’t consider yourself in that class it’s likely you understand the need to give some sort of attention to piano care. How much and how often will depend on a few factors such as:
• The instrument itself – it’s age and condition, the type and model and the demands placed on it
• The environment – the harsher the living conditions for the piano the more maintenance it will require
• The pianist – naturally the more demanding artist will require more serious and more consistent care of the instrument than the occasional player. That is no excuse however to ignore basic maintenance necessities.
In future articles we will delve into various piano care topics in more detail but we can generally divide the subject into the technical and the cosmetic. As you might expect the technical includes tuning but it goes beyond that. With over twelve thousand parts in the average piano there are any number of things that can go wrong not to mention simple maintenance requirements.
And of course you want your piano to look nice. Even the newest, most expensive, high gloss black instrument can fail to impress when covered in grimy fingerprints or worse.
Regular and knowledgable care for your piano will maintain it’s life and looks for years to come. Certainly a worthy endeavor.
I bought a KOCH AND KORSELT piano, serial No:10389. It is an upright. I would appreciate information on the brand, model, etc. and what this make of instrument was noted for. Does anyone out there have one? Heard one, etc.? History or whatever.
Thank you,
Tom
According to our information your piano was built c. 1912. The company was apparently established in Reichenberg, Austria c. 1891 and later moved to Czechoslovakia. We have no serial numbers past 1920.
We can’t tell you much more about the brand. If you need more information about your particular piano, I advise you have a qualified piano technician inspect it. To find a local technician you can visit http://www.ptg.org/.