The piano, as we know it today, a wondrous concoction of wood, metal, leather and felt, upright and grand, has been with us for well over 100 years. It has hardly undergone any mechanical improvements or alterations in design and construction since early last century.

However, cheap overdamped, straight-strung pianos of inferior construction and design were produced in vast quantities inter-war and many of these are still around. You can find them in charity shops up and down the country. They are vastly inferior as instruments, more in terms of touch, rather than tone and should be avoided. Decent secondhand instruments, in good condition are readily available nowadays on the usual internet sites, for very little money, sometimes for free; but you have to know what you're looking at.

If you are contemplating getting a piano through these channels, let me know and I can steer you away from the ones that you should avoid!

Pianos go out of tune due to movement of the soundboard in relation to changes in humidity. If the soundboard dries out and contracts, the bridge will move and the strings will slacken. Therefore, for instance, in the relatively humid summer of last year (2021), some sections of pianos I tuned had done the opposite and had become sharp, due to expansion of the soundboard. So it is best to try and maintain an atmosphere of stable humidity. People used to keep a container full of water in the bottom of the piano, less so nowadays; humidification can best be achieved either with expensive humidification systems, or perhaps a Hydroceel unit mounted on the back of the bottom panel; or with a nice big potted plant stationed between radiators and the piano, which will serve to humidity the air around the piano and, also, look very fetching!

Low humidity can also dry out the wrestplank, into which the tuning pins are set,  with potentially disastrous consequences.

Ideally, relative humidity should be between 40% and 60%. It is surely worth investing in a simple hygrometer, so that you can keep an eye on it.

And don't forget to call your piano tuner at least once a year!