Fixing piano sticking keys. Quick & Easy DIY Method

The process of delivering a piano to your home can cause the moisture content of the internal action parts to change which can cause them to contract or expand slightly which can lead to sticking keys.

This is not too uncommon but is thankfully very easily addressed by a process known as “key easing” where a technician will remove each key one at a time, compress the key bushing felts and then pop the key back in place. The result is a perfectly free and easy key again.

If your piano needs some key easing, there is a temporary measure you can try which you can use to free up a key. Waggle the key from side to side at the bottom, middle and top position. Try that a couple of times and see if it improves things. Feel free to do it quick vigorously, you won’t do any harm. This might help you enjoy the piano until the technician next visits and can then perform a proper key easing process with the right tools.

The reason that your 1st tuning is delayed by around 6 weeks to allow time for these sort of issues to show themselves and then be addressed by the tuner during that 1st visit.

You can hear all of this advice neatly summed in the following poem, written and recorded by me. Enjoy

The lyrics, in case you want to print them for your fridge, are;

When a cold breeze Freezes these keys
They seize so we use these to squeeze,
We tease them, and ease them,
With ease until it freese them
They’re the bees’ knees
Oh please, a sneeze!