Disklavier

In my opinion, you are not damaging your piano.  What is risky, is the 
possibility of a sound board shrinking and cracking from long exposure 
to hot desert-dry air.  Because it takes time for the wood to absorb or 
release moisture, exposure to high humidity for a month between seasons 
should not greatly affect the piano's internal moisture content. With an 
increase in humidity for very long, you could notice a few keys becoming 
sticky and slight drifting of the tuning. If you're still concerned 
about the short term higher humidity, you could reduce it by placing a 
25-watt lamp or a heating pad close to the floor beneath the piano so 
that drier air would convect there.

rwberry99 wrote:

>Hi All,
>
>I've looked through the archives and have read some of the
>discussions, but most humidity-related articles were about forced-air
>heating systems.  So here's my story:
>
>I bought a DC3A back in January.  I did a little reading and had a
>whole-house humidifier installed in my forced-air heating system. 
>During the winter, I had no problem keeping the relative humidity
>between 35% and 45%.
>
>During the summer, the air conditioner kept the house at a healthy
>humidity level (40% to 50%.)
>
>Now since Autumn is arriving, I'm at a dilemma.  The outside
>temperature has been as low at 55 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit and it's
>still pretty humid (the last couple of days the humidity has been
>hovering around 80%-90%).
>
>If I wanted to have the air conditioner help keep the humidity down,
>I'd have to set the thermostat between 65 and 70 degrees otherwise the
>air conditioner wouldn't cycle on at all.  I tried this briefly and
>the house gets kind of stuffy pretty quickly because the air
>conditioner comes on so infrequently.
>
>I've read about humidity control systems for the piano, but I'm not
>real thrilled about having to deal with some kind of cover for my
>piano.  I play it 2-3 times a day and having to fool with a cover
>would be a PITA.  This is not even considering the aesthetics of
>covering the piano.
>
>I grew up in a house with no air conditioning (so we were totally at
>the whim of Mother Nature regarding humidity) and a console piano.  We
>had the piano tuned twice a year and I don't remember any significant
>problems other than things I could attribute to normal wear and tear.
>
>I don't mind having my piano tuned more frequently (heck I would have
>it tuned every month if I thought I could stop worrying about the
>humidity all the time.)
>
>Am I really damaging my piano by exposing it to this kind of humidity?
> How quickly would things go down hill?  We had the piano I played
>when I was growing up for 12 years and other that having it tuned and
>replacing the felts after about 10 years the humidity didn't seem to
>bother it all that much.
>
>Thanks,
>Bob
>
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Robert Welcyng
Anchorage, Alaska