How to Clean a Piano Comprehensively - What about the dirt and grime inside?

When most customers ask me ask me if their piano is clean, they are almost never referring to what lurks underneath the keys or deep inside the piano.

Many only want their pianos to look good and be free of any scratches.

When I remove the action (because of troubleshooting sticking notes) and keys, most customers are absolutely horrified at the dust, dirt, grime and lost items hiding in plain sight just underneath the shiny keys.

These last two weeks, I have found a mouse nest (underneath the middle of the keyboard of a piano that was only ever just tuned), lots of spider webs, spiders, dead cockroaches, mouse droppings (pianos are a favorite place for mice to breed), bobby pins, guitar pics, and many other items.

I could write a book on the items I have found during all of the years I have been tuning.

While I do understand the expense of getting a piano tuned, I don't understand why all customers don't have their pianos cleaned THOROUGHLY INSIDE at least once every 5 years or so - especially noting the cleanliness aspect.

Yes, I actually will include cleaning on every SECOND TUNING that I do for a customer. That's easy to do because the piano would require only a normal tuning with the extra time being devoted to the other "stuff" hiding in plain sight under the keys or underneath the bottom board of an upright piano. If you need general cleaning (not soundboard cleaning - that would take more time) during the first tuning, the cost is $50. extra and the results are spectacular!

So please do the following:
1. Get your piano tuned at least once per year.
2. Have your technician clean the inside of the piano.
3. Have your technician suggest the best options of cleaning the outside of your piano.

https://www.paulbrown.org  Email: paulbrn@telus.net 
Tel: 604-324-7013 (no texting)