Sticky Piano keys are one occurrence that every pianist would love to avoid but sometimes end up experiencing it.
If you have played the piano for quite a while, then this may be something that you’ve definitely experienced. In this Article, we would give you the answer of how to fix the sticky piano keys.
You might suddenly discover one day when running your hands across the keys that one suddenly doesn’t come back up. And irrespective of how many times you press, it just doesn’t come up.
And of course, it doesn’t produce the sound that you want. You may simply be experiencing the case of a sticky piano key.
There are a number of factors that may cause your keys to stick. A dust particle or even food crumbs may be the culprit in this scenario.
Wood swellings, tight bushings, and tight sluggish parts may be a culprit as well.
So how do you fix them? Simply cleaning your piano may be all you need to make a key come unstuck. You may simply need to clean between the keys with a damp cloth or loosen the piano keys.
In other cases, you may need to consult professional services if that doesn’t seem to be the problem.
For the remainder of this article, we would be shedding more light on how to fix sticky piano keys.
Fix Sticky Piano Keys Step 1: Identify Materials of the Keys Made with
Before you go ahead with cleaning your keys, you need to factor in the materials that they are made with. If your piano has plastic keys, then you may not need to put special care into cleaning them.
However, if they are made of some other materials like ebony black and ivory white keys, it might get tricky.
This is because these keys are pretty delicate and need to be treated with a lot more care.
If your keys are made of wood, you would need to pay closer attention than you would plastic as well.
For plastic keys, all you need is a damp cloth and a small amount of liquid soap.
Fix Sticky Piano Keys Step 2: Clean the Keys
First, you get a clean cloth and a bowl of clean water. Next, you add one or two drops of liquid soap. You should do your cleaning using only one edge of the cloth which you would be dipping in the bowl.
In order to avoid the occurrence of a stuck key in the future, it would be a great idea to clean all the keys.
So, you should rub each key lightly yet firmly until they are completely clean. Then use the dry part of the cloth to clean the moisture off.
However, you should ensure that you are concentrating your cleaning more on the key that is stuck.
For ivory keys, you may be needing an ivory scrapper. But if you don’t want to make use of that, you can use another method.
Cleaning ivory keys is a very delicate process because the keys are delicate. Therefore, you cannot use just a piece of cloth and water as in cleaning stuck plastic keys.
Instead, you could make use of a non-abrasive toothpaste and apply it with a soft toothbrush.
For long term maintenance purposes, you would need to clean each key individually while concentrating on the stuck key(s). Then you can buff with milk to make it shine.
Fix Sticky Piano Keys Step 3: Check for Swellings
In most cases, cleaning usually takes care of sticky keys. However, there are other times when sticky piano keys are not as a result of a build-up of dirt.
If your piano has wooden keys, then it just might be as a result of some swollen keys. Usually, this is best prevented as fixing it isn’t as easy as just cleaning with a damp cloth.
Also, this occurrence is more common in very humid clean or if your keys came in contact with water. For pianos with wooden keys, preventing them from coming in contact with water is one top-notch prevention technique for swollen keys.
Also, if when the keys get wet, they may go beyond swollen to become very distorted.
If you stay in an area that experiences high humidity only temporarily, then you just wait until it gets less humid. This would lead to the wood contracting and it would no longer stick.
However, for places with high humidity all year round, you would need to identify the affected key. After identifying it, press it down alongside the key just beside it and use a thin-tipped screwdriver to separate both keys.
This would make enough space between both keys so that it is unable to stick. But if your area is very humid, you might need to do this very frequently because you cannot prevent the keys from expanding.
While doing this, you need to be super careful in order not to damage the keys.
Another solution is purchasing a dehumidifier and positioning it close to your piano. A dehumidifier would help keep the humidity in check and prevent swollen or distorted keys.
Fix Sticky Piano Keys Step 4: Check for Broken Keys
At other times, the problem may be a broken key. If you suspect that your keys aren’t stuck because of dirt or swellings, then you should consider a broken key.
If you have confirmed that you have a broken key, you would have to take it out somehow.
First off, you would need to give the screws of the keyboard from both sides. After doing this, gently raise the casing of the board while ensuring that it doesn’t touch the keys in the process.
Next, you would need to remove the stop which is on the front of the board. Removing this stop prevents the keys from moving.
After you have done this, you can then push the key that you want to remove down and unhook it from the frame entirely.
To ensure that no other key comes out in the process of doing this, you would need to take a precaution. You may have to slide a thin object which would fit down towards the key. Then use this object to separate it.
When you have unrestricted access to the bedding of the keys, you can use a rag and a cleaner to clean it. This would help playability to a very large extent.
Now that you have removed the broken key, you can then fix the key stop back. Afterward, reassemble the other parts of the keyboard and tighten the screws once again.
You would obviously have to replace that particular key but in the meantime, your key is no longer stuck.
Fix Sticky Piano Keys Step 5: Engage the Services of a Professional Technician
Getting professional help for fixing your sticky keys should really not be the last resort. Instead, if you feel like you really cannot handle it, you could have helped over.
Similarly, if there is a warranty on the piano, you can easily make use of that in fixing it.
To avail yourself of the warranty, you would need to have followed the manufacturer’s instructions to the letter.
But if your piano is already outside the window of the warranty period, you would need private help.
However, when getting a technician in this case, ensure that you are going with a reputable and well-experienced one.
Better yet, you could go for a company that specializes in the manufacture and repair of your piano type.
If you would be needing spare parts, like the case of a broken key, ensure that you are getting only genuine parts.
If you can get it from the parent company or manufacturer, that’s a great move. But if you cannot, ensure that you patronize a licensed distributor or retailer.
Similarly, if you have already tried to fix it yourself but it didn’t work out, you would need to come clean. Telling the technician everything that you did to your piano would help his repairs move along fast.
Likewise, he would be able to identify whether you are any impact that could have negative future implications.
Precautions to Take When Fixing Sticky Keys
When trying to fix your sticky keys, you need to take certain precautions to avoid more damage.
- First, you shouldn’t make use of any form of bleach or chemical cleaning agent when cleaning your keyboard keys. This is because it could lead to permanent damage which could be really profound.
- Next, check to confirm whether the manufacturer added a special way of cleaning the piano. If there is one, then you would, of course, need to follow it to the letter.
- If you have tried other means of fixing your sticky keys and it doesn’t particularly work, you should consider other reasons. Primary amongst these is humidity. However, getting rid of humidity may require a bit more technicality than other processes so you may need to get outside help instead.
Conclusion
Improper working of your piano may lead to a major reduction in lifespan among other possibilities.
Therefore, ensuring that your piano is in top-notch shape is very important. In order to do this, proper maintenance man and use easily tops the list of steps to take.
If you maintain your piano right, you shouldn’t experience any major problems. This would also request the chances of getting sticky keys from a build-up of dirt or debris.
However, it may be possible that the piano keys get sticky suddenly even without doing anything wrong.
In this case, it’s probably because of the piano age is too old or the quanlity is not good. Seclecting a well known brand model in the beginning would largely avoid this issue.
Therefore, we have done pretty much research and have posted Best Piano Keyboard Brands to help our readers to select a best brand.