FREQUENTLY ASKED
QUESTIONS

Before you order your beautiful Edelweiss piano, or even after it’s been delivered, there may be questions you have regarding it’s use and care. We have covered off the most frequently asked questions below, but if you have a question not included here please contact us directly.

Will my self-playing piano be ok
in my house with central heating?

It’s a question we hear so often: Will my self-playing piano be OK in my house with central heating …?

Before we answer this question, we need to clarify where this whole piano vs central heating debate has come from and what actually does and does not affect your custom piano when you adjust the heating in your home.

Highly complex instruments, Edelweiss self-playing pianos are predominantly made of wood, felt and metal. Wood, an entirely natural material, is affected by it’s environment and in particular by the relative humidity of the atmosphere in its immediate surroundings. If humidity is higher, wood will take on moisture and swell; if humidity drops, wood will dry out and shrink. Both these scenarios can seriously damage your custom made piano and the key parameter that needs monitoring is the relative humidity in your room, not the temperature!

The two are related though, as temperature affects how much moisture can exist as humidity in the air. Warmer air has the capacity to hold more moisture, hence why we can have hot, muggy days in the summer. Conversely, in the winter as temperatures drop so does the amount of water vapour that the air can hold. From a relative humidity angle, this means that our air is always drier in the winter months. Switching on our central heating exaggerates this dryness even further as whilst increasing the air’s capacity to hold water vapour, the moisture levels remain constant forcing relative humidity to drop even lower. This is where the concern as to your Edelweiss piano and central heating originates from – the fact that turning our heating on causes a drop in relative humidity in our homes.

So is this something you should be concerned about?

If you are considering purchasing, or have purchased an Edelweiss Self-Playing Piano, you will have been provided with a hygrometer to help you monitor relative humidity levels in your room. This level will fluctuate, but so long as it remains between 40 – 60% your custom piano should be unaffected. If you are monitoring this level and notice it stays below 40% or above 60% for prolonged periods of time (weeks) then we strongly recommend having our Climate Control System installed in your piano. This ‘rule of thumb’ will also apply to all new instruments purchased from similar premium piano manufacturers.

What about underfloor heating?

Underfloor heating is the worst possible heat source for an Edelweiss piano, as it constantly circulates warm, dry air straight up into the piano! That’s not to say it is not possible to have a self-playing piano in a house with underfloor heating, you just need to be aware of the risks and take precautionary steps: at Edelweiss Pianos, for example, if we know your home has underfloor heating we will always install our Climate Control System to perfectly set your custom piano up and counter the affect of this heating source as much as possible.

Can a wall radiator do any damage?

This may seem obvious, do not place your Edelweiss Piano directly against/next to a radiator unless it is turned off. Not only will the air cause your self-playing piano problems, the concentrated heat source will also damage the casework / polish on your piano.

Be Realistic & Be Aware

I guess at the end of the day we have to be realistic – our homes need heating to ensure we remain comfortable and relaxed and with contemporary building standards both in terms of your house and your Edelweiss Piano, it shouldn’t be any problem keeping a self-playing piano in your home. Having read this article you are now aware of the challenges that relative humidity can cause – all you need to do is keep an eye on your hygrometer, contact us for a climate control system if needed, and sit back enjoy your custom made piano form the comfort of your warm home!!

How do I look after my
climate control system?

Is your Edelweiss Piano fitted with a Climate Control System? Have you forgotten what maintenance this system needs and when? Or maybe you’ve just had your self-playing piano delivered and would like further information? Either way, this quick article covers off everything you need to know about your custom piano’s Climate Control System.

What does a climate control system do?

This is a great question, and it’s important we understand this before we go any further into maintenance of the system itself. The Edelweiss Climate Control System controls the humidity (moisture level in the air) immediately surrounding your piano. Being manufactured primarily from wood, any piano is highly susceptible to humidity changes – if humidity goes up, your piano will take on moisture; if humidity drops, your piano will dry out. Either way, if left unchecked significant changes in humidity can cause irreparable damage to your piano over time. The Climate Control System contains both a humidifier and a de-humidifier so when overall humidity drops, the humidifier switches on and releases water vapour beneath the piano soundboard to keep relative humidity immediately surrounding the piano consistent, and vice versa for when overall humidity increases.

The ideal range for any piano is 40 – 60% relative humidity (your Edelweiss Piano will have been supplied with a hygrometer to help you measure this) and the Climate Control System ensures that your piano’s micro-environment is maintained within this optimum humidity range.

What affects humidity?

Anything from the weather through the country you live in to switching on your heating impacts the relative humidity in your home! We would always recommend installing a Climate Control System on any piano installed in a room fitted with underfloor heating and also for any pianos delivered to countries outside of the EU.

So what does my Player Piano’s Climate Control System look like?

The Edelweiss piano system is fitted completely underneath our grand pianos totally out of sight so you should not notice too much of it! There is just one thing you do need to see: the system indicator lights and you also need to know where the top-up hose is. The picture below shows where both of these will usually be located on your self-playing piano:

What maintenance do I need to do?

Ongoing maintenance is very simple, you will only be required to do two things:

1. Ensure the Climate Control System remains plugged in

Always ensure the power cord is plugged into the mains, it is important that your Climate Control System remains on and active whatever the weather! Do not unplug if the weather seems “nice enough” – the system requires a constant supply of power to do its job properly and the green ‘POWER’ light should always be on. If your piano is also fitted with a self-play system, everything will be powered by the one socket your delivery team plugged in when your piano was first installed.

2. Fill or top-up the water when required

A water top-pp is required when the yellow ‘WATER’ light is flashing. It’s important to only fill up when the light is flashing – do not just fill it every Friday/once a week please only fill when the system asks you to!

How do I top-up my system?

As daunting as it may sound, this is very simple – simply follow the steps shown in the video below and your system will continue functioning perfectly.

Other useful facts to know

The points above cover all you need to know about your Climate Control System on a day-to-day basis; there are some further useful tips we are pleased to share with you about your system:

YELLOW (AMBER) ‘WATER’ LIGHT IS FLASHING

You need to top-up the water in your system as set out above.

RED ‘PADS’ LIGHT IS FLASHING

Your systems pads need replacing and this does require a technician to attend – please call our TotalCare Team on 0044 (0)1223 881691 and we will arrange this for you.

BOTH ‘PADS’ & ‘WATER’ LIGHTS ARE FLASHING

First fill up the water as set out above, it may be your system has run completely dry and both lights will turn off about 10mins after you have done this. If the red ‘PADS’ light continues to flash, then your system needs its pads replaced as set out in the above step.

TotalCare – Your hassle free option

If this all sounds a bit too much, you can always sign up to one of our TotalCare Piano Care Subscriptions. With regular scheduled visits, full Climate Control support and much much more, these care plans have been created for your complete peace of mind and basically mean that you hand the responsibility of caring for your piano over to us! You will still need to top-up the Climate Control System when required, but our friendly team will be on hand to guide and train you through this process if needed.

Want to discuss TotalCare Options for your self-playing piano? Click the image below, leave your details and one of our team will be in touch.

What is the best way
to clean my piano?

Your new Edelweiss Piano has just been delivered – what an exciting time! It looks stunning, plays beautifully and really brings a new dimension to your home, but you may be wondering “how am I supposed to clean it?”.

This quick blog post has been written just for you!

The ideal care kit for your Edelweiss Piano comprises of the following:

  • 3 x microfibre cloth / E-Cloth
  • 1 x water spray bottle
  • 1 x black wax (something like Turtle Car Wax is great)

On a weekly/daily basis all your piano needs to keep it looking great is a quick dust over with a microfibre cloth – on a highly reflective, high gloss surface dust can seem to show up very badly, give it a gentle wipe over with an e-cloth and you’ll be amazed at the difference!

Got a sticky patch? Maybe some stubborn finger prints or a couple of drips from a sticky drink? Such marks can take a bit more work to remove: try gently rubbing with a damp cloth, before then buffing up with a dry cloth to bring back the shine. It may need a couple of goes to completely remove the mark, but you will get there. Just one word of warning: on a high gloss case, rubbing too hard with any cloth can actually scratch the finish and in the worst instance, create a dull/matte patch on your piano.

So what is the wax for?

If your piano does pick up a minor scratch or two, you need the wax. Apply a small amount of wax onto a microfibre cloth and vigorously rub the wax into and over the scratched area. Leave for 30 secs or so, then buff off the wax with a clean microfibre cloth burnishing back up to a full glossy shine. Some customers like to give their entire piano a full wax burnish once a month.

And remember, if you have any questions at all or having read this are still unsure exactly what to do for your piano, please don’t hesitate to call our team on +44 (0)1223 881691, we’re always happy to help. Better still – would you like our expert team to do all the work for you? Click the image below to find out more about our TotalCare program.

How do I create
my own piano?

It’s one of the questions we get asked the most, “How do I create my own Edelweiss custom piano?” and there are three ways of approaching this which we explore shortly. Before that, there is one key question you need to ask yourself: can you envisage your ideal bespoke piano in your head or would your prefer the support of an Edelweiss Piano Design Expert with (or without) the added design insights from your Interior Designer?

Design With Piano Expertise

Creating your own piano can seem a very daunting but exciting project and we would assure that our Piano Experts are here to walk you through every step of your custom piano design journey if required. Starting with a simple conversation either in our Harrods showroom or Cambridge UK Head Office, most of our customers prefer to rely on the Edelweiss expertise to guide them through their custom made piano design process. In our initial conversation we ideally explore preferred colours, styles and possible piano locations in your home, before your Edelweiss Custom Piano Expert sends suggested piano visuals and design ideas to you for your consideration. Once confirmed that these initial suggestions are within your design requirements we have a further conversation, often a quick phone call, to understand more about the specific size of your ‘piano room’ and what budget/price point you are working to. Armed with this new information it is much simpler to quickly identify which bespoke piano option is the perfect fit for your requirements, both in terms of design, size and price. Your Edelweiss Custom Piano Expert will consolidate all this into a piano proposal and send it to you for your approval and on receipt of your Piano Deposit, the Edelweiss Team begin building your very own Edelweiss custom piano!

From the comfort of your own home

As much as we enjoy talking with our customers on our showrooms and over the phone, we are a family-owned company and totally understand that there is no better way to design/consider bespoke piano options than from the comfort of your own home. Yes, that’s right, an Edelweiss Custom Piano Expert will come to you and work through the entire piano design process with you in your own home – we will bring actual size templates showing how much floor space your piano will require, we bring colour charts, design visuals and a whole lot of creativity that is all inspired by the decor, style and design of your home. What could be better than having a piano design expert working with you to create a totally unique custom self-playing piano that takes inspiration from the colours, decor, design and style of your home? Want to book this in? Call us on 0044 (0)1223 881691 or email sales@edelweisspianos.com and our team we be in touch. Please Note: at present our ‘At Home’ piano design service is only available in the UK.

Create online

If you are confident you know what you need your custom self-playing piano to look like, why not head to the Edelweiss Online Piano Configurator and let your creativity flow? To start off, choose between the Edelweiss Flugel (our traditional grand pianos) and the ever-popular Edelweiss Sygnet (the smallest acoustic grand piano in the world) before moving further into your configuration options. Next you can choose leg styles and lid designs before starting to experiment with colour: go the ‘full colour’ route choosing one colour for your piano or test changing the colour of specific piano components. Final steps are to select your options – make sure you select the self-play system – and then send us a screen-grab of your very own piano design to sales@edelweisspianos.com and we’ll get right back to you with pricing, lead time and help you make your piano design dream a reality.

How to upload new music to your
Edelweiss self-playing piano?

It’s that time of year where the days seem to start dragging on again, you’re back at work, back at school, back in the daily grind of life …

Already the Christmas good cheer feels like an age ago, you had a great party to see the New Year in and your piano really brought your party to life. But now, with all that behind us, why not revitalize your self-playing piano with some new music?

Yes, there is a huge amount of music available!! Click here to download our current library to your Edelweiss custom piano:

From Elton John (#EltonJohnLewis ring any bells now?) through Rachmaninoff right up to Sam Smith, your Edelweiss custom piano has got you covered whatever your music tastes. And the process to get more music is very simple:

  1. Browse the Edelweiss Piano Music Library,
  2. Choose your songs and then
  3. Let us know what songs you want on +44 (0)1223 881691 or email sales@edelweisspianos.com
  4. We will send out a download link to your chosen songs, complete with a full backup for the music already on your iPod
  5. Follow the steps set out in the video below to download and sync all your new music onto your pianos iPod

Still need help on how to make all this work on your Edelweiss self-playing piano? No problem, we are only a phone call away on +44 (0)1223 881691 and are looking forward to helping you in any way we can.

What do I need to know when looking
for a new self-playing piano?

This is a great question that we get asked a lot, so we thought it would be helpful to share some insights into the process the Edelweiss Pianos Team follow in supporting our customers:

Space

Usually when starting on a self-playing piano journey, we already have a space in mind for our piano and know what model/type of piano we are looking for. It is helpful to know the broad space requirements of the typical player piano sizes:

Upright Pianos

  • Space against a wall
  • At least 150cm wide x 65 cm deep x 118cm high

Grand Pianos

  • Need a space at least 160cm wide x 210cm deep
  • (actual piano size from 158cm long – additional space is needed for piano stool)

If you are stuck in the middle of these two spaces don’t panic – the Edelweiss G50 Sygnet is perfect for you only needing a space 140cm wide x 170cm deep!

Budget

Not necessarily the easiest subject to discuss, always remember that, as with any instrument, the most affordable piano may not give you the longevity, sound purity and playing/listening enjoyment that you are hoping for!

Most of us have a ballpark price in mind before we approach anybody to even consider talking about a piano! Our customers often ask us what price range the Edelweiss Pianos fall into, and whilst it does depend a lot on final piano specification, custom options chosen and final delivery location, the table below gives a ballpark guide.

  • Standard Upright £6,000 – £10,000
  • Self-Playing Upright £15,000 – £20,000
  • Grand Pianos £12,000 – £40,000
  • Self-Playing Grand Pianos £21,000 – £50,000

Don’t forget: with Edelweiss there are so many piano options at different price points; if these numbers don’t work for you, please do let us know what price range would work for you and then let’s see what we can make work!

Timeline

It’s very wise to start with the end in mind when considering your piano options. At Edelweiss Pianos, we build every piano to order and our average lead time is 2-4 months. Bespoke pianos with an increased amount of customisation can increase this to 6-8 months. So if you are planning a new home, redesigning your interior or considering a birthday gift, please keep these lead times in mind and from our side it would be great to know your delivery deadline as early as possible in the process as then we can keep our conversation focused on pianos and designs that will be deliverable in your timeframe!

The easiest way? Call Edelweiss Pianos

With all that said and done, if you are just starting out on your self-playing piano journey please do not feel overwhelmed by what can seem a large amount of detail that’s needed. Often the simplest way to identify your personal piano requirements is simply to give Edelweiss Pianos a call and have one of our team work through this process with you – we’re available on 0044 (0)1223 881691 07:00 – 17:00 GMT, Mon – Fri.

What do I do if my Edelweiss
piano ‘stops working’?

As beautiful as an Edelweiss, custom-made piano is, it can be very frustrating if your self-playing piano appears to have ‘stopped working’ and is not playing any music for you. This short article covers off the first four troubleshooting checks that our piano technicians will always undertake before ascertaining if any further remedial action is needed.

Please note: these are very simple checks that anyone can undertake, and will resolve the ‘issue’ with your self-playing piano 99.99% of the time if worked through in the order set-out below
:

1. Confirm power supply is active

Is your piano still plugged in to a power supply / socket, and is the socket switched on? As simple as it may sound – this is the reason a self-playing piano has stopped working in 40% of the calls we receive!

2. Confirm WiFi connection

The second check is to confirm your iPod is connected to your piano’s WiFi. On your iPod, press the ‘Home’ button to return to the menu screen then go into “Settings”. Second from the top you will see “Wi-Fi”, press on the “ > ” to access the Wi-Fi Settings menu. If on this screen you see “Edelweiss” or “Piano” at the top with a blue tick to the left-hand side then you are connected to your pianos WiFi and you need to move onto the next step – this is shown in the picture below.

If you do not see “Edelweiss” or “Piano” at the top with a tick next to it, under “CHOOSE A NETWORK …” you should see “Edelweiss” or “Piano” listed there – touch on the relevant name and you should then connect to your piano automatically.

If “Edelweiss” is not showing as an option on your iPod and you have confirmed your piano is plugged in and switched on at the socket, wait 5 mins, repeat this step again and if “Edelweiss” is still not showing please call our team on 0044 (0)1223 881691
.

3. Set iPod to play through your piano

With everything plugged in, switched on and the WiFi connected we now need to switch your iPod to play from the piano rather than from its own speaker. It is more confusing than it needs to be to explain how to do this in words, so for this step please follow the video below:

Your piano is now fully set up and ready to rock and roll: choose your favourite track, hit play and enjoy!

If you still can’t hear the piano playing, don’t panic! Let’s quickly check the volume levels are set OK.

4. Check volume level is at least 20%

Your self-play piano is an acoustic instrument, and as such it does have a minimum volume threshold. With music played through a speaker, you can turn the volume right down to whisper quiet and still just hear the music. Not so with a piano! You can still turn the volume right down but below a certain threshold the piano will simply stop playing as it is not possible for the notes to be played that softly. If you are playing a track with non-piano accompaniment through your piano and can still hear the non-piano parts being played through the speakers then this is probably what has happened!

As a rule of thumb, a volume level of 20-25% (or 4-5 ‘bars’ as this pic shows) is about the lowest iPod controlled level your piano will physically be able to play at.

Very simple to resolve: simply ready yourself for the piano to start playing quite loudly, turn the volume up to 50-60% on your iPod and the piano will start playing again, drop the volume down to your preferred listening level again and you are good to go!

5. Call Edelweiss

If you’ve worked through these four simple steps in the order set-out above and your piano is still not working, we want to know!!

Please call our team on 0044 (0)1223 881691 and we’ll help you further
.

What is the Edelweiss
Custom Piano process?

As mesmerising as it may feel at times, we know that there is a tried and tested journey that we all need to follow to help us arrive at the perfect custom piano solution for our specific requirements. Your unique musical masterpiece, self-playing piano, as we like to refer to it here at Edelweiss Pianos. One of the beauties of life is that we are all totally different individuals, with varied tastes, style preferences and design expectations – despite all this, with an experienced professional to guide us through a certain process we are perfectly able to help you discover the dream musical centrepiece you really want in your home. It’s a 10-step journey that is set out below:

1. Space Allocation / Floor Plan

The first consideration for including a custom made piano in any project is what is the idea size piano for your planned ‘piano room’? Sometimes we even help our clients identify the most ideal self-playing piano locations for your home – and all that we need for this stage is a floorplan of your home! The depth of experience we have in our Design Team allows us to quickly identify the best ‘piano spots’ and from there our recommended piano size taking into account both the acoustic and aesthetic elements within your home.

2. CAD Models

We sometimes call this the ‘Check It’ stage and this is particularly relevant if you are building or rebuilding a new home. For every one of our core unique piano models, we are able to provide a 3D CAD file of our recommended self-playing piano model for your interior. This allows you, or your interior designer, to include an actual size Edelweiss Piano ‘shape’ into your 3D interior renders allowing both you and ourselves to double check that the suggested instrument is the correct proportions sizewise for your needs.

3. Moodboards / Colour

With the ideal self-playing piano location and recommended piano size clarified, your custom piano journey becomes much more exciting. At this stage its very helpful to have copies of any moodboards / colour palettes that you or your interior designer are working from for the relevant piano room in your home. If your unique piano is for an existing, decorated and furnished room we really need to see photos of your proposed piano space so our Design Team can create a moodboard of design and colour options for your considerations.

4. Final Render

Moodboards etc. created we undertake your custom Piano Design Appointment – this can be a meeting in person in your home, an appointment in either of our showrooms or a phone call. In this session we talk through the proposed design and colour options, hardware choices, other fabrics and furnishings in your piano room that we need to ensure your self-playing piano perfectly complements, etc. This conversation concludes with a final agreed draft design and is put to our InHouse Design Team to produce as a scaled 3D Render of the Final Design and sent to you for your approval.

5. Client input & sign off

Your Final Render is emailed to you along with a detailed design & technical specification outlining all the options selected on your custom piano and a complete price breakdown showing the costs of each component part for your perusal. Any component can be removed or changed at your discretion – this is where we really need your decisive input so we can sign-off on your custom piano design and final price.

6. Deposit payment

Following your sign-off of your custom piano design, we will send you a Sales Order Confirmation confirming the design & custom details and a payment plan for your piano – we usually require a 50% deposit up-front, with the balance payment falling due on completion and before delivery. Whatever the agreed payment plan is for your piano, your deposit invoice will be included with your Sales Order Confirmation for your immediate attention. This is your commitment to the creation of your custom piano, and we need to have received your deposit payment before we proceed any further.

7. Timeline set

Every Edelweiss Piano is built to order which means that at the point you pay your deposit, your custom piano is not yet in existence! Following receipt of funds, the Production Spec for your self-playing piano is handed to our Production Director and our team begin crafting your unique piano as soon as we possibly can. You will receive a notification of expected completion date, although if you do require your piano by a certain date (birthday. anniversary, etc.) please do let us know and we will do everything we can to make your piano before then for you.

8. In production updates

Your custom piano is now forming at the hands of the Edelweiss Master Craftsmen! All through this process you will be sent images from our Cambridge, UK factory showing production progress on your piano – if you want to make the visit to see it in person, you are very welcome: we love showing people ‘the works’ in our 10,000 ft2 factory.

9. Final Payment

The week your custom made piano is due to complete our production process, you will receive your balance invoice – this needs to be settled before your piano is released for delivery. With your unique piano fully assembled our team will send you photos and videos allowing you to experience your unique musical masterpiece for the first time.

10. Delivery

Following receipt of balance payment funds, your piano is handed over to our Logistics Team for delivery and installation into your home. At this point we consider production of your custom piano to be fully complete and all details of your piano and any conversations we may have had relating to ongoing piano care are passed to our TotalCare Team. Over the next few days you will receive a phone call asking for your most convenient and/or inconvenient delivery dates to book in your pianos delivery. Once installed and set-up, our TotalCare Team will be in touch to guide you through the ideal care schedule and discuss your ongoing self-playing piano care options with you.