Piano Care in Chicago: A Seasonal Guide
By Eathan Janney, Floating Piano Factory
Chicago’s climate is beautiful and brutal in equal measure. For a piano owner, that means the work of caring for your instrument changes with the seasons — sometimes significantly.
Over more than two decades of tuning pianos in the Midwest, I’ve developed a clear sense of what each season brings and what Chicago piano owners should do (and watch for) throughout the year. Here’s a practical guide.
Fall: The Most Important Season for Piano Care
September through November
Fall is the single most important season for your piano’s care calendar in Chicago.
Here’s why: this is the transition period between summer humidity and winter heating. Indoor relative humidity is dropping as outdoor temperatures cool and heating systems begin to run. Your piano’s wood is contracting. Strings are losing tension and dropping in pitch.
What to do in fall:
Schedule your primary annual tuning between mid-October and mid-November, ideally a few weeks after you first turn on the heat. This timing lets the piano adjust to the new indoor climate before the tuning, rather than immediately after — which helps the tuning hold through winter.
This is also an ideal time to assess your humidity control situation. If you don’t have a humidity control system installed in your piano, fall is when you’ll start to feel the consequences most sharply. Consider a room humidifier near the piano (target: 45–50% relative humidity) or a piano-specific humidity control system installed inside the cabinet.
Check for new noises. As wood contracts in fall, you may notice buzzing, rattling, or sympathetic vibrations from parts of the piano that were quiet all summer. These often resolve on their own as the piano stabilizes, but persistent buzzing or clicking is worth mentioning to your technician.
Winter: Protect Against the Drying Season
December through February
Winter is the hardest season on a piano in Chicago.
Forced-air heating systems drop indoor relative humidity to 20–30% or lower. At these levels, wood dries and contracts significantly. Soundboards — which are typically made from spruce — can crack in extreme cases. Glue joints can open. Tuning pins can loosen slightly in a dry pin block. And pitch drops.
This is not alarmism. I’ve seen pianos in Chicago apartments where the relative humidity dropped to 15% in January. These instruments need more than the standard two annual tunings to stay in reasonable shape.
What to do in winter:
- Maintain humidity near the piano. A room humidifier near (but not directly beside or on top of) the piano, or a whole-home humidifier attached to your HVAC system, can make a meaningful difference. Target 45–50% relative humidity.
- Keep the piano away from heating vents. Direct heat from a floor or wall register can cause extreme localized drying. Even a few inches of clearance is not enough — move the piano to a wall where it won’t be in the direct airflow of a register.
- Avoid exterior walls if possible. Cold exterior walls can cause localized temperature drops that stress the piano. An interior wall is the more stable environment.
- Don’t tune in January. Unless your piano is in a climate-controlled environment with stable humidity, mid-winter tunings rarely hold well. Wait until late winter (March) if possible, when heating has stabilized and you can predict humidity levels more accurately.
Spring: The Reset Season
March through May
Spring is when Chicago piano owners catch up.
As heating season winds down and outdoor temperatures rise, indoor humidity climbs. Wood expands. String tension increases slightly and pitch rises — often undoing some or all of the winter pitch drop. The piano’s entire mechanical environment shifts.
This is typically when I see the largest pitch discrepancies from one year to the next. A piano that was at A440 in November may be at A435 or lower in March, having dropped through winter and not fully recovered yet.
What to do in spring:
Schedule a tuning in April or May — after the heating system has shut off for the season but before summer humidity arrives. This is your second essential annual tuning.
For pianos that have been neglected through a full Chicago winter, spring tuning may require a pitch raise. If the piano is more than 10–15 cents below standard pitch, a single-pass fine tuning won’t stabilize — the strings need to be rough-tensioned up first, then finely tuned. This takes longer and costs more, which is an argument for not letting the piano go all winter without humidity management.
Spring is also an ideal time for a more complete assessment of the piano’s mechanical condition. Winter stress can reveal regulation issues, loose parts, and other concerns that are worth addressing before the summer performance season.
Summer: Watch the Humidity
June through August
Chicago summers are humid — sometimes very humid. Lake effect heat waves combined with poor air conditioning can push indoor relative humidity above 70%.
For a piano, high humidity causes wood to swell. Soundboards rise. Key mechanisms can stiffen or stick. Pitch often rises above A440. In extreme cases, keys can feel noticeably heavier or even stick down.
What to do in summer:
- Run air conditioning when possible. Central air conditioning both cools and dehumidifies your home, which is better for the piano than heat alone.
- Avoid placing the piano near open windows or doors. Direct exposure to humid outdoor air — especially during a rain event — can cause significant localized humidity stress.
- Watch for sticking keys. A few keys that stiffen or stick in summer is usually not structural — it’s a humidity response. If it persists into dry fall weather, mention it to your technician.
- No emergency tuning needed. A piano that has gone sharp in a summer humidity spike will typically return toward normal as conditions stabilize. Unless you have a performance coming up, it’s not necessary to tune in response to a temporary summer spike.
Year-Round: The Fundamentals
Regardless of season, these practices apply throughout the year:
Two tunings minimum. Fall and spring. Every year.
Stable humidity is more valuable than frequent tuning. The best thing you can do for your piano’s long-term condition is keep it in a stable humidity environment. 45–50% relative humidity is the target.
Keep it away from heat sources and direct sun. Heating vents, fireplaces, and south-facing windows with direct sun exposure are all damaging over time.
Tune after any move. Moving a piano — even across the room — subjects it to temperature and humidity changes. Budget for a tuning after any relocation.
Floating Piano Factory provides year-round piano care for Chicago homes, studios, and institutions. Book your appointment →