Musical Instrument Preservation

Lack of humidity control can wreak havoc on your musical instruments – impacting their look and sound. Eventually, humidity swings can create musical instruments that are no longer considered tunable.

The amount of water in your home's wood varies greatly depending on the relative humidity (RH) level of your indoor air. If RH is too low, your indoor air will absorb water from the wood, causing it to shrink. If RH is too high, the wood will take on moisture, causing it to swell. 

This is why maintaining optimum RH levels is important. Industry experts recommend keeping your home's relative humidity levels between 30-60% for musical instrument preservation.

Too much humidity in your home can cause:

• Swelling of wooden instruments such as violins and pianos
• Warping or rotting wood floors, trim and wood furniture 
• Mold and mildew infesting wood instruments

Too little humidity in your home can cause:

• Cracks to develop in wood instruments
• Loose pegs and springs
• Your piano and other musical instruments falling out of tune

"Seasonal and even daily changes in humidity cause wood parts to swell and shrink, affecting tuning stability and touch. Extreme swings in humidity can eventually cause wood to crack and glue joints to fail...Maintaining the correct environment will preserve your piano investment for a lifetime of enjoyment." - Piano Technicians Guild

Aprilaire Helps You With Musical Instrument Preservation in Your Home With Total Humidity Control

Aprilaire makes musical instrument preservation easy with whole-home humidifiers and whole-home dehumidifiers that automatically maintain the optimum levels of humidity throughout your home.

Use our solution finder or locate a professional to find out which Aprilaire solutions are right for you and your home.