"Tuning and Repairing your piano", Chapter 1

In this video, we'll pull the piano action and all 88 keys out of a typical upright piano, blow out all of the abrasive dust, and reassemble all the parts. Usually done by piano technicians, this is a job that is absolutely critical to the life of your piano.

Within every piano action, there are hundreds of tiny moving parts, many of them with "felt on brass" bearings. Over the years, an amazing amount of dust can build up on these surfaces, causing the piano action to wear prematurely. If you've got an acoustic upright piano, this video is a must-see.

In this video, you'll learn how to safely remove the piano action out of an upright piano, take it outside and blow out all of the dust. In addition, this video details how to remove all of the piano keys from the keybed in preparation for cleaning.

In addition to cleaning out all of the piano keys, we'll also take a look at the "keybed", which is the surface where the keys sit. Over the years, this becomes a treasure chest for pennies, paper clips, candy wrappers (watch the video) and an amazing amount of dust. Yuk!

This piano many seem like it has an unusual amount of dust, but the truth is that most pianos harbor quite a few surprises underneath the piano keys, and behind the piano action!

Finally, we'll put the entire upright piano back together. Along the way, there's a couple surprises. You'll see how tricky it can be to get the sustain and soft pedals back in place, but by taking out the bottom panel of the piano, I'll show you how to get them back where they need to be.

Go practice!