In the past few days, the piano tuner arrived for the tuning.

I had my vacuum cleaner set up and plugged in.

I asked him as a favor if he could pull the action for me. I offered to pay him extra if he wanted, although actually he pulled the action rather quickly and did not want more pay.

He pulled the action most of the way out, letting me get the vacuum's wand along and around the action itself. This positioning also allowed me to get behind the action into the cavity where the action normally resides.

I got tons of dust. In fact, there were dust bunnies floating around just in the act of pulling the action.

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Why did I do this? About 1-1/2 years ago, I had the same technician come out to fix a sticking key. When he removed the action to replace a pin, I was appalled to see the AMOUNT of dust that had accumulated in, around, and behind the action. We are talking about a grey, fur haze of dust. At that time, I could have vacuumed but was not prepared or set up.

This has stuck in my mind, and I resolved to correct the situation with the current tuning visit.

Actually, I gave the tuner a nice fat tip, thanking him for pulling the action, even though he did not expect the money.

We have had the piano in our living room since 1988, and so far as I know, this is the first time I have been able to GET AT this dust. I AM able to get at the dust under the strings and along the plate. I'm very glad I was able to remove this heavy mass of accumulated dust from around and behind the action. Possibly the sticking key that required a repair visit could have even been caused by the extreme dust build-up.

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Warning: The technician warned me about trying to pull the action myself if I did not know what I was doing. For instance, you might have trouble getting it back in right. Just thought I would add that.

Best to all --

Glyptodont

the best way to remove dust is to blow it out..do it on a windy day when you can open all doors and windows otherwise you will end up with a house that looks like the set of the "munsters"...you will also need a powerfull blower.

I disagree. There are ways of getting dust out of a piano without making a mess of the rest of the room. If you just tie a rag to a piece of string, it is fairly easy to clean under the strings without making a mess, and it will get the dust that is stuck in grease and stuff like that.

I agree with BDB. Although, blowing can be a rather fun way to get the remainder of it out that sneaks away and hides under things that you can't normally get at, doing it as BDB describes does a nice job of removing the majority of it.

Pulling the action is the only other way of getting at what is behind the action and underneath it. If you never remove the action and clean out the dirt from under it, it eventually accumulates and acts sort of like sand paper with that gritty sound as the action slides back and forth when using the soft pedal.

I'm happy to remove the action etc. Many times I do charge extra for removal and my time. after all, I would charge extra if I had to remove the action for anything else so...

If your house tends to have lots of dust, I would suggest getting an air filter. Sears sells them. Home Depot sells them. You can get a decent one for under $100. You have to replace the filters now and then, and they do make a little noise and use a little electricity. But they make a *huge* difference in the quality of the air in the space. And they reduce dust dramatically (if used properly). I have used them because I have asthma, although our current home is (thankfully!) must less dusty than the last one.

Other than that, I have an electric leaf blower, and three or four times a year I open all the windows and doors and spend a couple of hours going through the house with it. Makes a huge difference.

I prefer BY FAR Dave Spurlock's soundboard cleaning tools. It's a set of 3 little rake-shaped "squeegies" with thin heads covered with felt. You simply slip one of them between your strings (3 sizes for 3 different areas of the strings), rotate, "rake up" the dust, then remove them and vacuum them off and repeat. You can find them at Spurlock tools. I sell these kits every week :p and I love them! They are a bit pricey for what they are, but according to my customers who have purchased them, well worth it!

I'm sure you mean Bill Spurlock. I agree that his soundboard cleaners are very well designed and I use them all the time.

I take a fitted sheet and with the action out I tape it around the front and gently blow the dust into the action cavity. After getting all the dust you can this way AND wiping with a rag, give it the blast that gets into the impossible to get to spots.

Glyp, did he finally tune the piano??? Or did you get a new tech??

Wow, thanks for that!

After 14 years of use, mostly with the lid closed, I just cleaned my soundboard (with a Spurlock set as mentioned above) and vacuumed out the action cavity.

I also spent a fair amount of time carefully cleaning off 14 years of accumulated dust and grease from the tops of the dampers.

Unfortunately, a whole-house air filter won't necessarily trap airborne grease from cooking - and especially if your kitchen is fairly close to your piano.

I finally decided to get an Edwards string cover to try to keep this stuff out - dust is one thing, but the thought of grease getting on the strings, dampers, and other action parts was the clincher for me.

Spurlock tools, then a through vacumming. After that I will blow out what can't be reached. Not too much dust and I warn the customer beforehand. Ends in a clean piano.

http://www.spurlocktools.com/id32.htm

Here's a link for that tool. That's the beauty of this forum. I'd not heard about that tool until just now. Soooo, I do believe that will be one more item going into "Jerry's wish list basket."

I tried the air/vacuum technique - I tented the piano with a sheet with the lid up, cranked up the shop-vac and used an air compressor to dislodge the dust, carefully trying to vacuum up whatever I blew out with the air nozzle (which has an easy-to-regulate trigger - full 'blast' at 120psi would be way too violent).

The tenting and vacuuming were only partly effective, but the air compressor was able to clean even the smallest crevices nicely. I was careful around the dampers and other action parts so that the air wouldn't damage anything delicate, but otherwise it was a success (apart from dusting the rest of the house afterward!) and pretty quick.

I have a vacuum that blows and vacs. I vacuum up what I can and blow the rest (with the owner's permission). If there is too much dust on the soundboard, a soundboard steel and rag is best used before blowing. If the dust is blown out on a regular basis, the piano will look new for years.

You mean, you actually ask permission??? :p