Piano Video Lesson: Why are California Pianos Better?

Hi, I'm Robert Estrin. Welcome to LivingPianos.com and VirtualSheetMusic.com. The question today is why are California pianos better? Well, that's a great question! Are they really better? Well, we're going to cover this today and explore this whole subject.

Well, you know pianos are found in all kinds of places in the world and you can hear about companies, climatizing their pianos for certain areas and such. Well, what do pianos like? Pianos like moderate humidity and stable temperature. Well, here in California, you can't get much better than that, at least in the continental United States.

Now, of course I have to qualify that because where I am here, about 10 miles from the beach, yes it's very stable, moderate humidity. The temperature never goes very high or low. But people who live on the beach, their pianos can get thrashed in a very short amount of time. I've seen 10 year old piano ready for major restoration, or at least restringing fro the moisture and the salt air eating away at everything. Likewise, go 10 or 20 miles inland and you have the high desert. It's so dry, soundboards crack, all sorts of problems happen. So, California climate, you have to qualify. There's a lot of climates here in California, the mountain climate. But any place that you have moderate temperature and humidity - which could be anywhere. For example, maybe you live in a high rise in Chicago, but it's a moderate building and you've got, of course, air conditioning and heat, and you have a humidifier system built in to your unit, you might have a perfect environment in Chicago. It's possible. But it's much more prevalent here. More than that, when you have a piano like this - here's a 100 year old Steinway I'm in front of - the fact of the matter is this, before the advent of air conditioning, really would have had a tough time holding up in a temperate climate. Here in California, there's a lot more of those.

I remember when I first moved to California in the late 1990's and looking on the road and seeing 1970's and 60's cars in immaculate condition, and hadn't seen anything like that on the east coast or the Midwest where I'd lived before because of the snow and the salt and all of the rest of it.So, the benefits here are also for pianos. If you can find a piano that is from California, you might find yourself a little gem.

Thanks so much for joining me. Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com.

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