Care of Musical Instruments in Hawaii (house, buying, to live in)

[Kiiskeentum]

Hi all

I have a question about musical instruments in Hawaii. My husband plays guitar, ukulele, and we have a piano.

If, as another thread states, all wooden furniture needs to be sealed prior to moving to avoid swelling and damage, how does one protect musical instruments?

thanks

Kiiskeentum

[Razzbar]

The only thing I know is according to a friend who used to tune pianos on the Big Island is that they need to be tuned more often, and that moving from one side of an island to the other would throw it out of tune.

I also suppose it makes a major difference whether the items are shipped by sea or by air. At sea, there's going to be high humidity, but no pressure or temperature extremes. By air, there's going to be dry, low pressure air. So I would think that sea would be the better way to ship. Offhand, I'd say build a wooden case to protect the piano from impact damage, and completely wrap it airtight in plastic before putting it in the case. As for the guitar and uke, I wouldn't worry about the atmosphere, as long as they're in cases to protect them from impact.

[NandVsMom]

We used an overseas shipping company from the mainland. Every item of furniture, including our piano, was completely sealed with TONS of cling-like plastic wrap, and everything soft was supported in extra strength heavy-duty boxes. Once we got here we waited a bit for the piano to acclimate. Had it tuned initially and then tuner came back to re-tune and install a heater bar that is always on and keeps the humidity down inside the sounding board. If we had packed ourselves I know we would've never packed our items as securely as the company we used did.

[Kailasmom]

Here's a very helpful thread
http://www.city-data.com/forum/hawai...struments.html

[pbmaise]

Aloha,
Alas, one of the prices I paid to live in paradise is to leave my Steinway Model B Piano. I bought brand new and lost about $25,000 having to resell it so soon after buying new, however, it was still better to sell at that loss than to bring to Hawaii. A model B is big and needs an air conditioned room and I didn't want to enjoy an air conditioned paradise.

I highly recommended leaving the piano behind. You can pick up a good electronic piano on Craig's List on the cheap. Keep it covered when not in use to extend the life. I own three Yamaha keyboards. One at the house and two on the boats. Despite being exposed to the salt air at sea they have done well. I don't expect them to last more than 4 years on the boats or more than 5 years at home. How long you can get a piano to last depends on how close you are to ocean and if you air condition.

When you need to make a repair in the other string instruments I was told there is some sort of special glue made from rabbit tendons if you want to keep it natural. Otherwise i would use West System Epoxy.

[Kiiskeentum]

Mahalo to all of you who answered. Good information. Perhaps we will wait to ship the piano and store it on the mainland.

Thanks again

Kiiskeentum

[musicalinstruments]

hmm.Really go information.
will help in maintaining musical instruments.