It’s very common to have some keys on your piano that don’t work. Most people refer to this as stuck keys or sticking keys.
Each key has more than a dozen moving parts, any of which, when not working properly, can cause a key to stick, however, here are the 4 most common reasons why piano keys stick.
1) The jack is not returning to the ready position
Inside your piano, you have 88 piano hammers. They are the thing that actually hits the string when you press the key. The key pushes up on the jack and the jack throws the hammer against the strings. If you push the key a second time, and find that suddenly it no longer works, it’s likely because the jack did not return to its ready position. To fix this, your piano tuner needs to lubricate the jack’s center pin on which it rotates. This type of repair is often included in the price of tuning your piano, but depends on how many keys are sticking and the amount of work involved in disassembling your piano.
2) Hammers rub against each other
If a hammer gets shifted even just a little bit inside the piano, it will often rub against the hammer next to it. This can cause it to not work properly. To fix this your piano tuner needs to realign the hammer. This type of repair is included in the cost of tuning your piano.
3) A broken spring
Each key may have two or three springs associated with its various moving parts which work to make sure those parts return quickly to where they are ready for you to hit the key again. When a spring breaks, often times the key will work correctly once, but when you hit the key a second time, it no longer works. To fix this your piano tuner simply replaces the spring. For this type of repair, I charge approximately $30
4) There is a foreign object inside your piano
When several keys next to each other suddenly stop working, it is most often caused by something having fallen into your piano. A ball point pen laying across the whippens can cause an entire octave of your piano to suddenly stop working. To fix this your piano tuner simply removes the object. This type of repair is included in the cost of tuning your piano.
Because there are so many moving parts in your piano, it’s important to have your piano tuned once a year, this way, anything that’s beginning to wear and not work properly will be found by the tuner and can be repaired.
Schedule your piano tuning – Call Gary at (330) 880-6725
Photo credit: flickr Creative Commons, 08:365 The Learner by Camera Eye Photography
