Storing a Bosendorfer or Fazioli Grand | PianoStorage

Owners of Bosendorfer and Fazioli grands rarely need convincing that standard storage is not adequate. They already know it. What they need to know is whether a specialist company actually understands their specific instrument, or whether specialist piano storage means the same thing regardless of what the piano is. It does not, and this page explains the differences that matter.

The Bosendorfer resonance case

Most grands, including Steinways, are built around a structural rim that is acoustically separate from the soundboard. The soundboard sits within that rim and does the acoustic work. A Bosendorfer is built differently. The cabinet walls, including the exposed inner spruce sides of the case, are structural parts of the resonating body. The case itself contributes directly to the instrument's tone.

This construction, known as the resonance case, gives a Bosendorfer its characteristic warmth and sustain in the lower registers. It also means that the full cabinet structure responds to climate changes during storage. The exposed spruce inner walls are not insulated from humidity variation the way a heavily lacquered rim on another instrument might be. A sustained period outside the correct humidity range affects more of the instrument's acoustic architecture, not just the soundboard.

• The resonance case construction makes the full cabinet climate-sensitive, not just the soundboard alone
• Inner spruce walls require the same stable humidity as the soundboard
• Extended range models including the 97-key Imperial carry additional bass strings whose bridge and pin area also respond to humidity cycling
• The tonal character a Bosendorfer is known for is partly a product of that construction, and that construction is what storage conditions affect

The Fazioli soundboard: where it comes from and why it matters

Fazioli, founded in 1978 and based in northeast Italy, produces fewer than two hundred instruments a year. The soundboard on each instrument is made from spruce grown in the Val di Fiemme valley, a forest whose timber has supplied instrument makers for centuries. The grain regularity and resonance density of this wood is selected to a standard that cannot be substituted from general commercial sources.

That material specificity matters in storage. A Val di Fiemme spruce soundboard has been selected, aged and fitted to tolerances matched to the rest of the instrument. Humidity cycling, the repeated expansion and contraction that happens when a piano is held in an uncontrolled environment through a British winter and then a warm spring, stresses those tolerances cumulatively. A Fazioli soundboard repair requires craft and material that sits almost entirely within Fazioli's own workshop in Italy. The path is long and the cost reflects that. The practical answer is to store the instrument correctly so the question of repair does not arise.

Climate: what both instruments need

The standard target for both instruments is 45 to 55 percent relative humidity and a temperature range of 15 to 21 degrees Celsius. The requirement for stability is at least as important as the target range itself. A facility that averages correctly but fluctuates significantly through the seasons does not meet the standard a Bosendorfer or Fazioli requires.

The climate-controlled facility PianoStorage uses holds conditions within a narrow band throughout the year, monitored continuously. There is no seasonal drift, no overnight temperature drop when heating reduces, and no summer spike in an unventilated space. The instrument that arrives in September at 50 percent relative humidity is held in the same conditions in December and in the following March. A standard self-storage unit cannot provide this, and for these instruments the consequences of inadequate conditions are not easily reversed.

Collection, handling and what to tell us when you book

Any grand piano, including a Bosendorfer or Fazioli, goes into storage on its side with the legs removed. The lyre assembly, lid and music desk are removed at the property before loading, wrapped individually and stored alongside the body. For instruments where the cabinet itself is a structural acoustic component, as it is in a Bosendorfer, correct positioning matters more rather than less. Leaving a grand on its legs for months puts sustained load on the leg-to-cabinet joints, and that is before any consideration of the resonance case.

When you book, give us the floor the instrument is on, whether there is a lift, and any access detail relevant to the collection. Stair access is priced clearly in the booking and confirmed before you proceed, so the full cost is agreed in advance and nothing is added on the day. PianoStorage is part of the Pianospeed Group, which has handled concert instruments for institutions, musicians and private owners throughout GB mainland and Belfast.

• Legs, lyre assembly, lid and music desk removed and wrapped at the property before loading
• Body positioned on its side on a padded board with fitted transit covers in place from preparation onwards
• Access details including stairs taken at booking and priced clearly before the crew arrives
• Insurance cover from collection to re-delivery, alignable to a specialist valuation
• Specialist piano crews trained on concert grands of every type, size and age