Hi,

I've noticed that the action on my piano has become a bit stiffer and less responsive over the last few days. It may have something to do with the increased relative humidity in the house (mid 50s), thanks to the unending rain La Nina is causing. Soft, repetitive notes and fast arpeggio passages are harder to control.
I had the action regulated back in October, and I haven't noticed any problems until now. This is a piano that has ~80 year old action.
Is this a common occurrence, especially on older pianos with worn action mechanism, that shift in humidity can affect not only its sound but the smoothness of the action? And more importantly, will it get better once the humidity goes down?

Thanks,

--c5

It is common in old Steinways, for some reason. It usually does not get better without work. Usually it shows up in hammers that return slowly or jacks that work once, and then do not work again for a while.

Hello BDB,

How much work is it to fix problems you mentioned? I assume a tech has to go through the entire keyboard to check all the hammers and jacks.

--c5

It depends on how bad it is. I recently spent about 3 hours on an old V. Sometimes rebuilding the action is the best solution.

There are other joints besides the hammers and jacks. Those are the ones where it is most evident.