We have a new Bosendorfer 200CS! This forum has been great fun to read...I did a lot of lurking and a little posting. The new member of the family is LARGE and in a not-very-large room, but because it can't be tucked into a corner, it is constantly inviting you to play!
I do have questions on how to clean it: it's a satin finish, no idea if that's lacquer or poly. You can't see the direction of the woodgrain. Our piano seems to grow a fine coating of dust overnight, but I am afraid to touch it without the right cloth. What is a microfiber cloth, anyway??
The next question we will tackle is rug vs. no rug.

p.s. Thanks to Frank B. for helping me figure out how to post images. I know no new piano post is complete without lots of photos.

Congrats Thunder.

I too was mostly 'lurking' - alot - until I made my purchase recently. Great idea to take pictures of the piano being moved in!

Enjoy.

Many congratulations from one Bösendorfer owner to another... if this carries on, who knows, we might soon be able to outnumber the PW Estoniacs!

-Michael B.

Simply gorgeous!

Congratulations, Thunder, on your beautiful new piano! It doesn't look too large for the room at all.

I have a satin finish, and on the advice of Derick, I bought an Original California Car Duster (available at auto supply places or Wal-Mart). It whisks the dust right up in a jiffy and won't scratch the finish. I'd hate to dust my piano with a microfiber cloth; it'd take forever. (But you should probably get one for cleaning off fingerprints.)

Is the grass already that green and the flowers already that bloomed in Northern CA? If so - I'm moving!
Congratulations on your new Bosie! What a beautiful piano. It is so great to see that picture of a beast of a piano going into what looks like a humble home. I love older houses (of course I may be putting my foot in my mouth as I really don't know if yours is old or new or big or small). The interior is quite stunning as well.
Again Congratulations and many years of happy play.

Mike

Congrats on your new family member...enjoy.

Now your expected to record, post and join the AB recital in May

btw...who plays???

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. We feel very lucky to be able to post these messages!

Who plays: My eleven-year-old daughter plays the best and really is the musician in the house, but I used to take lessons as a girl and my husband is teaching himself...we are all playing every day now. It is impossible to walk by without playing it. Who knows, maybe we will both show up on the Adult Beginner forum!

Big piano, small house: it is definitely a smaller, older home. Other people have their sports cars, their mansions, their plasma tv's...we have our piano!

Cleaning: Thanks for the tip. Now I'm hoping for a post from Derick, master of all things Bosendorfer AND all things piano cleaning! Fingerprints are definitely an issue.

Do a search for Dericks comments...he has many.

speaking of cars...I sold this one 2 years ago to buy my piano...
K3 Allard 1953

Great piano, congratulations! It looks really gorgeous... seeing how beautiful satin finished pianos can be, I consider looking at one myself... but first I have to choose which one, so the finish should be the easier part...

Anyways, enjoy your viennese beauty for many many years to come! How lucky your kids are...

A beautiful piano in a beautiful setting! The piano doesn't look too big for the room at all, it looks like what it is - the most important thing in the room!

Thanks for posting pictures and enjoy your new piano.

Awesome --- Congratulations and enjoy!

John
-----
Bohemia Concerto 132

Congratulations on your new piano! A fantastic choice!

Monica's comment about The Original California Duster (make sure it is the ORIGINAL) was dead on. You don't want to use a microfiber cloth if you don't have to.

Read this thread for additional cleaning tips:

Cleaning tips

A good microfiber cloth to buy is the Ultimate Wipe:

Ultimate Wipe

You'll want to keep the inside clean. If you start right now and do it religiously (once a week), you can use a rechargable leaf blower that I bought at the Sharper Image seen below:



You can also buy an Edwards String Cover if you don't mind covering up the beautiful interior of your piano and attenuating some of the sound:


Edwards String Cover

Don't forget to buy a good humidistat and, depending on your location humidifier/dehumidifier (you want to keep it at around 40% RH).

You may also want to look into a Piano Life-Saver:

Piano Life-Saver

Derick

Welcome to the Bosey club. I echo the comments from the others who are compelled to keep their treasure pristine:
California Duster
Meguiar's HiTech wax
Dampp Chaser

But....remember it is a piano. Meant to be played, enjoyed and, like it or not, it will get some occasional finger prints and mini scratches on the fall board and music desk.

The good news is that most every assault on it will dissapear with a simple cleaning.

My caution is that it appears to be close to a window. If there is direct sun, or heat, that comes in onto the piano, you may want to get some shades.
As far as a rug....that's up to you. If the piano is too loud and bright for your taste, a rug under the piano, and drapes on the window will help muffle the sound. But, you got a Bosey and that piano will whisper or roar depending how it is prepped, regardless of the floor.

Best of luck.

Joel

Congratulations! Wow,,,, it is a beauty. and i'll bet it sounds incredible! Keeping dust off of my ebony finish piano has been a challenge from day one. i used the hand held vaccum cleaner with a soft bristle attachment today to get the dust off. it worked great but i wasn't sure if this was the best thing to do. i will get some of that california duster myself.
anyway, congratulations and enjoy it!
by the way, i like your wall color.

Wow! Wow! Wow!

Gorgeous!

That is a fabulous piano in a beautiful room. Congratulations, and enjoy!

Gorgeous piano in a beautiful setting. Love your house.

Do take care when dusting it.
A friend had a horrible experience. She has a 7' 4" Bosendorfer. Her cleaning lady sprayed it liberally with Pledge furniture polish, then rubbed the stuff in with a coarse piece of towel.
My friend had to get have it all professionally cleaned in order to get the gunk off, and to have the minute scratches removed.

No one, but no one, cleans my piano except me. And I do what my technician advised. I use a microfiber cloth gently, and only dampen it when absolutely necesssary. One word of caution about microfiber cloths. Someone wrote in to the forum warning that there are some cheap microfiber cloths out there that may damage your finish, so check around as to the best brand to get.

Thanks for the pictures of that absolutely gorgeous piano. Gaby Tu

It is gorgeous. I second the concern about all the (beautiful) French doors. They appear to face north, without much direct sunlight, yet it's inevitable that you'll experience big temperature fluctuations every day, and thus humidity changes. It's something to watch!

You may also find that the treble is overly harsh with the lid up, because of all the reflections from hard glass. Voicing to the room helps (as well as a rug under the piano).

--Cy--

Congratulations,

What a beautiful piano. We hope your Bosie will give your family years of musical joy.

Thunder - What a beauty.

"humble home" = big chuckle. I used to live in the Bay Area!

Congratulations! It doesn't look too large for the room to me, either.

Maybe I'm missing something, but it sounds to me as though you just need a larger one. My dealer gave me a microfibre cloth (the label says "Vileda Microtuff") when I bought my piano, and it's at least as large as any other duster I own.

Best wishes,
Matthew

The windows in question are north-facing, and the piano is not parallel to that wall but at a slight angle: its end points more to the center of the room. Light does shine through, but it's not direct. Humidity here is not an issue -- it is always dry. The piano sounds wonderful right now without a carpet underneath. It's actually much quieter than our old piano, or should I say much more CONTROLLABLE. However, the piano is in a room with many hard, flat surfaces, so we will experiment with carpets/window coverings/wall decorations as needed as time goes on. Thanks to everyone for their advice and kind comments.

You're right; the microfiber cloths I have are quite dinky (handkerchief sized). But the California car duster is HUGE! It only takes a couple of passes and I'm done with the entire piano.

gabytu: I shuddered to read about your friend's mishap with the cleaning crew. I use a cleaning service, and every week when they're scheduled to show up, I place a large sign that says "Commonwealth Cleaning: Do not clean or touch the piano at all" on top of the piano.

Hi Thunder,

Mega beautiful piano and home! Congratulations! I hope you and your family enjoy it for many years to come.

Rickster

My concern with the California Car Duster (I have one for my car) is that the cloth is saturated with wax. I would be concerned about getting that wax on the finish of my piano.

I have always used a good-quality genuine ostrich feather duster -

Look for a decent one, and the cheap ones have sharp quills which stick out.

I got my last one from The Clean Team (which, incidentally, has great, inexpensive house cleaning products).

I seem to recall in Randy Potter's course he says that Pledge has silicone in it, and if so, that can seriously mess up the inside of the piano too. I let out an "Oh my g**" when I read about the well-meaning cleaning lady. Monica, your strategy is well observed!

Great advice. I now have a shopping list: one car duster without wax, one microfiber cloth, one leaf blower...and cancel the cleaning lady!!