If you've watched a piano tuner doing it, you probably have a good idea.

I can see how using an air compressor might be useful to blow out the debris but I doubt you could catch any part of the cloud of dust and hair blown into the air with a vacuum of any kind. It might be easiest to just blow away, let the dust and hair settle outside the piano, and vacuum and wipe that.

My piano teacher had a royal blue blanket of sorts she kept over the strings. Her piano had humidity/temperature controls.

Do you need to get *under* the strings? Our central vacuum is powerful enough that I believe the round attachment (brush) would remove everything if run lightly *over* the strings.

(Now I'm thinking of 'grand piano' and 'blanket' and remembering all the forts I made under our baby grand when I was a child.)

Jasdip, very weird. I'm pretty sure I've been using Alisande as long as I've been coming to GardenWeb.

Elmer, I think I might do that. I live on a dirt road, and settling dust is a daily event. :-)

Seagrass, for many years I played the piano every day, but that's not the case now. It never occurred to me to cover the strings when it's not in use, but I'll look into it. Humidity is a big issue; I have a dehumidifier situated near the piano.

Chisue, the piano is 94 years old, and I want to avoid touching the strings if possible. Some of the handhelds have reviews that claim "amazing" suction, so I wonder if one would work above the strings.

Would a small vacuum like this work? It's $29.99 on Amazon but you can save 10% by clicking to activate a coupon on the product page.

I had a dog named Scruffy! He was a character. Anyway, there’s a baby grand at my moms and I don’t think anyone has ever cleaned under the strings., just dusted the top.

Alisande, I deleted my comment about another name that shows you under. Must be my phone or Houzz acting up.

I'm learning about covering the strings on a baby grand. Who knew? Except those that have one :-)

LOL Jasdip . . . "except those that have one" but not all of us, apparently!

Thanks, Lindsey! I didn't see anything that small, but I'll check them out. The listing says this one is suitable for hard flooring. Can't you just see us on our knees? :-)

I love my piano, which was my mother-in-law's wedding gift from her father in 1926. She was studying to be a concert pianist at the time, and t's a full-size grand. I took this picture recently to show someone the new lamp.

Is there a space beside the strings large enough to allow a small 1" - 2" plastic hose to get in? If you have a canister vacuum with flexible but rather stiff hose, could you get some soft, very flexible plastic hose, to tape to the end of the vacuum's hose that you could maneuver into and around in there?

If you don't have such a vacuum, ask around among your friends, maybe borrow one? Perhaps offer to vacuum for them as compensation.

ole joyful

I have a set of very small vacuum attachments (like finger sized) - a small brush, small nozzle - I think I bought them at the hardware store, with an adapter so they would fit on my vacuum's hose. Perhaps that would work? I use them for getting into small dusty crevices and corners.

Another thought is some soft flexible tubing, also from the hardware store, small enough to slide under the harp and move around to vacuum up the dust (if that is accessible - I don't have a grand so don't know if there is an access point to go under the harp frame)

I generally just use the dusting brush attachment on my upright vac to clean inside my spinet.

Raee, that sounds like a possibility, thanks! Joyfulguy, I'm laughing at "Perhaps offer to vacuum for them as compensation." My friends know what kind of a housekeeper I am. They would laugh too. :-)

I saw something similar on the Home Depot website, small sized attachments that say they connect to standard hoses.

I'd blow it out.....on a 90 year old piano I wouldn't want to be touching the strings.

I found a youtube that showed how to remove the action and clean it, it was amazingly simple. My tuner recommends using the brush attachment on the vacuum cleaner for the strings.

I have felt blanket on mine, it completely covers all the strings and wood base. When I have it tuned, the tuner cleans everything.

While not in quite in the realm of offering helpful suggestions, this memory came to mind.

When I was young I remember Dad referring to having someone "clean one's clock", but that meant having someone, usually among adolescents, beat one up in a fight.

ole joyful

Thanks for all the ideas, everyone! You've broadened my shopping horizons.