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freezing cold stage pianos


pogo97

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I sometimes leave my piano in the back of the van if I have back-to-back gigs. My old piano put up with that like a champ and still works fine. Now I have a new piano and I'm wondering: have any of you had an equipment failure as a result of bringing a very cold instrument into a warm playing environment. I live in southern Canada and it's coming on winter.

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It's partly the reheating and it's partly the possibility of condensation (or frost!). I know there are dangers, but there are dangers in the unloading and putting away process, too. Mostly banging it into things.

 

I lived in central Yukon for awhile and one time, after carrying my dobro three miles to my neighbour's cabin at -30°f, I opened the case and it was immediately covered in frost. After that, I let it warm up in the case.

 

 

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I have left my digital piano in my Jeep in the winter for overnight gigs. Its never had issues, but then I don't play it right away. I never leave a guitar in the car ever, either in the summer daytime nor winter nights. Its not good to do, but if you do you need to let the guitar sit and get to the temperature of the room. Then tune it, because in extreme changes in temperature a guitar will go wildly out of tune and again while warming up. That fact means there is a change in stress on the wood. Not good. Plastic and metal can handle a much more variability in temperature. As for electronics, cold is a good thing. Its heat that can ruin electronics. Piano actions have lubrication, this lubrication needs to warm up a bit before using it because it won't be doing its job if it has the consistency of tar.

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It's partly the reheating and it's partly the possibility of condensation (or frost!). I know there are dangers, but there are dangers in the unloading and putting away process, too. Mostly banging it into things.

 

I lived in central Yukon for awhile and one time, after carrying my dobro three miles to my neighbour's cabin at -30°f, I opened the case and it was immediately covered in frost. After that, I let it warm up in the case.

 

 

If you're worried about frost, I'd use a good case, or at least wrap it in large plastic sheets and blankets - anything to help insulate it from the environment. And as others have suggested, open the case after it's been sitting in the warm room for a while, and do it like guitarists do - slowly. Crack the case after it's warmed up for an hour or so, but don't lift the lid. Then lift the lid a bit after another waiting period, etc.

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I'm not actually worried about frost here unless I really tried to make it happen. In the serious north, though, it can get cold enough that plastics shatter like glass and diesel fuel freezes and stuff like that. Down here in Canada's deep south, I think condensation is the most likely problem.

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