Hi,
I'm moving to Bonaire soon and could use advice on whether or not to bring my piano. Can a piano handle the Bonaire climate? Is there a piano tuner on the island?
Thanks

I'm sure the climate must play havoc with a traditional piano. If it were me, I'd consider an electronic one.
Having said that, I believe I recently read in the Bonaire Reporter that they just acquired a baby grand concert piano on the island.

I do have my piano with me, brought it something like 18 years ago. The humidity of the island plays havoc on it, and I have yet to find a tuner down here, although my father did tune it once when he was visiting (he no longer tunes). He said it was so far out of tune, no way it would hold a tune with a single tuning, and he was right!

By all means bring it, but don't mind if it sounds a bit tinny and out of tune.

Thanks Vince and Susan. I'll reconsider...

I spoke with Sue Felix and they used to have someone from the States come when they had the Tr nsworld folks here but now she tells me that there is someone from Curacao who does it. I know there are lots of pianos on island and I am sure if enough folks needed it, he would come. Also, it would be great if we could find a diving piano tuner and entice him to visit...

Oh, CB, that sounds right up your alley!

Debbie, Becky just pointed this out to me...

The weather is going to be a factor, but I think you could mitigate many of the effects by installing a Damp-Chaser system. It's a combination of heated rod, water reservoir, and humidistat thats regulates the humidity of the piano's environment. I think the whole system is around $300, but that's a ballpark because I'm too lazy to look it up.

I was amazed to see a music room in Puerto Rico that was climate controlled and sported a perfectly tuned Steinway D and harp :http://www.thegalleryinn.com/homepage.htm
so it can be done, depending on your limits. Fun place to check out, by the way...

Because my mother's health is precluding any trip to Bonaire in the foreseeable future, I don't think I'm self promoting if I say that I do tune and repair pianos in California, and have wondered what it would be like to bring my tools with me to Bonaire.

When I finally get to have a trip again, maybe I'll try to advertise and see if there's any interest. The biggest problem I could forsee in doing this would be to anticipate problems under maintained instruments might have and bring enough supplies to remedy them....

Sorry, that got a little nerdy, but, well, I'm a nerd...

LOL - not a nerd CB... you just know your stuff!

CB, love it when you talk techy!

Um, yeah, what CB said.

Get a Technics digital piano. They feel and sound like the real thing & provided you don't keep it out of doors it should do OK for many years.

We had the same dilemma when we moved to Bonaire. We ended up selling our 100 year old piano and buying a second hand Yamaha clavinova digital piano. I don't know about the Technics piano Phil is talking about but the Yamaha sure is a wonderful piano. Make sure you put a voltage regulator (you can buy them here...it is NOT the same as a surge protector) in between the outlet and the piano. Actually you should do that with all your sensitive electronics. You can hook up multiple devices to 1 regulator (depending on how high the number on your regulator).

Good luck!!

Bas.

Thanks all for your advice!