The keys of pianos have been made of a variety of woods over time
including sugar pine, spruce, ebony, and basswood.
Ivory was used at one time to cover the white keys but has since fallen out
of practice for legal and moral issues. Plastic is also commonly used.
Pianos have pedals for the pianist to use including the soft pedal, the
sustain pedal, and the sostenuto pedal. Grand pianos in the U.S. have all
three while in Europe many only have two (soft, and sustain).
Most pianists hire tuners to tune their instruments, unlike other string
players such as guitarists and violinists.
Because of their weight and delicate nature piano movers have to be skilled.
Most pianos have between 220 and 230 strings made of steel. There is
roughly 168 pounds of pressure on each string. The total tension of the
average piano is about 20 tons but can be as high as 30 tons.
The most expensive piano in the world is the Crystal Piano, created in 2008
for the Olympic Games. It later sold for over $3.2 million.
The largest piano in the world was created by Adrian Mann and it weighs
1.4 tons. It is 5.7 meters long.
The piano is often used when composing and writing music.