How to Clean Piano Keys
the Right Way

Piano keys get dirty. That's not a failure of maintenance — it's just the reality of an instrument that gets touched by human hands every time it's played. Skin oils, dust, and the occasional spill accumulate over time, and eventually a set of keys that started out bright white looks dingy, yellowed, or just plain grimy.

Cleaning them isn't complicated. But getting it wrong — using the wrong product, too much moisture, or the wrong technique — can cause real damage. Ivory keys can warp or crack. Plastic keys can cloud permanently. And the felt and wood underneath the keytop are far more sensitive to moisture than most people realize.

Here's how to do it right.

Step One: Know What Your Keys Are Made Of

Before you touch anything, you need to know what you're working with. Pianos made before roughly 1950 almost certainly have genuine ivory keytops — and ivory behaves very differently from the plastic used on every modern piano. Using the wrong method on ivory can cause irreversible damage.

Key Type	How to Identify	Key Trait
Genuine Ivory	Look for a faint seam where the keytop meets the front edge — ivory is made of two pieces. May also show a subtle grain pattern.	Porous, sensitive to moisture, can yellow, crack, or warp if cleaned incorrectly
Plastic (Acrylic)	Seamless keytop, uniform surface, typically brighter white on newer pianos	More forgiving but can cloud permanently from harsh chemicals
Ebony (Black Keys)	Traditional ebony wood on older instruments; synthetic on newer ones	Requires less cleaning — fingerprints show less and oils don't stain as visibly

The Right Products

The single most important rule: never use household cleaners on piano keys. Windex, bleach, all-purpose spray, furniture polish — all of these can damage keytops, seep under the felt, and destroy the wood beneath. They're formulated for hard, non-porous surfaces. Piano keys are not that.

What actually works:

• Keybrite — the gold standard for piano key cleaning. Specifically formulated for both ivory and plastic, safe for the surrounding materials, and a small bottle lasts years. We carry it in our shop.
• Diluted dish soap and distilled water — a mild solution works in a pinch for plastic keys. Never use tap water on ivory.
• White (non-gel) toothpaste — a light abrasive that can lift staining from plastic keys. Use sparingly.
• Dry microfiber cloth — for routine dust removal, this alone does more than you'd expect.

Available in our shop

Cory Keybrite Key Cleaner & Brightener

The technician's choice for safe, effective key cleaning. Works on both ivory and plastic.

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The Method — Plastic Keys

Plastic keys are the most forgiving and the most common. Here's the correct process:

1. Dampen, don't soak. Apply a small amount of Keybrite (or your cleaning solution) to a soft, lint-free cloth. The cloth should be barely damp — if you can squeeze moisture out of it, it's too wet.
2. Clean one key at a time, working front to back. Wipe from the front of the key toward the back — never side to side. Side-to-side motion can push moisture between keys.
3. Immediately dry each key with a separate dry cloth before moving to the next. Never let moisture sit.
4. Don't clean the black keys with the same cloth. The dye from ebony or synthetic keys can transfer onto white keytops.
5. Leave the lid open for at least an hour after cleaning to allow any residual moisture to dissipate.

The Method — Ivory Keys

Ivory requires more care. It's porous, which means moisture penetrates rather than sitting on the surface, and it can warp, crack, or yellow further if cleaned incorrectly.

1. Use as little moisture as possible. A barely-damp cloth with Keybrite or a mild soap solution is ideal. Never use tap water on ivory — the minerals in tap water can stain.
2. Never let cleaning solution pool at the base of the key or between keys.
3. Dry immediately and thoroughly.
4. Sunlight helps. After cleaning, leave the piano lid open in a room with indirect natural light. Ivory whitens naturally in sunlight — it's one of the quirks of the material.
5. Don't sand, bleach, or use abrasives. If ivory is significantly yellowed or stained, a technician can assess whether the keytops can be reconditioned or need to be replaced.

The Black Keys

Black keys need less attention than white ones, but they still accumulate oils and debris. A dry or barely-damp microfiber cloth is usually sufficient. If the keys are genuinely grimy, a small amount of Keybrite on a cloth works well. Avoid getting any cleaning solution in the gap between the black key and the white keys surrounding it.

How Often Should You Clean Your Keys?

For a regularly played instrument, a light wipe-down with a dry microfiber cloth after each session goes a long way. A more thorough cleaning once every few months is plenty for most home pianos. Teaching studios or church pianos that see many different hands every week benefit from monthly attention.

What you're trying to prevent is buildup. A light cleaning every few months takes five minutes and keeps the keys looking maintained. Waiting years means you're fighting compacted grime that may have already started affecting the keytop material.

When Cleaning Isn't Enough

If your keys have yellowed significantly, have visible chips or cracks in the keytops, or feel sticky regardless of how thoroughly you've cleaned them, the problem may not be surface grime — it may be the material itself or the action beneath it.

• Yellowing that doesn't respond to cleaning — often oxidation of the ivory or a keytop that has degraded. A technician can assess whether polishing or replacement makes sense.
• Sticky keys — usually an action regulation issue, not a cleaning issue. Cleaning the surface won't fix a key that sticks because the mechanism beneath it is out of adjustment.
• Chipped or cracked keytops — keytop replacement is a relatively straightforward repair, but it's a technician's job, not a DIY project.