I'm wondering how I should clean my piano? It's satin ebony.

1. How do I clean the case when I want do something more than dust it with a swifter duster?

2. How do I clean the keys? Even though I make my son wash his hands with soap, they always seems to be a bit "icky". The backside of his fingerboard always a bit of "gunk" on it in first position. I just take a bit of spit to it with a rag, but that's a bit different than the piano.

Thanks!

Hi. Depends on the piano finish. The keys, are they plastic or ivory? You can do serious damage to your instrument if you use the wrong cleaner or method.

Best of luck,

C

http://www.pianosupplies.com/Merchant2/m...ory_Code=polish

The Cory's Satin Finish for the case. Your piano tech may have it for sale, or you could order from http://pianosupplies.com , which helps to support PianoWorld.

For the keys, a soft 100% cotton cloth (like an old bandanna) very slightly dampened and wrung out, with a squirt or two of Windex on the cloth. If the moisture doesn't evaporate from the keys right away, it's too wet.

I'm sure your kid really is washing his hands (and it's not a bad idea). Fingers exfoliate skin cells, skin has salt and oil, bacteria, even the city air can put a condensate on the key covers over time.

I once made a mistake with a grand piano many years ago and polished it with a recommended cream. If I had to do it all over again I would have just used a slightly dampened very soft cloth.

Regarding the keys, I always used a watered down Windex. I was a piano player in the military for 20 years and used Windex on the keys of a seven foot Steinway just about every single day for those 20 years. (Everyone thought the piano was theirs to play and the keys were always greasy or just plain dirty. The Windex did it no harm ... and I used it for 20 years.)

I second the use of Cory Satin Sheen polish. It's good for general maintenance and is safe to use. For the keys, Cory has another specific product called Keybrite that works well on every type of keytop I've seen so far. It's also safe to spray directly on the keys (it's even safe for computer keyboards) because it evaporates very quickly.