The Rise of the Clothes Moths, should piano owners be worried?...

In short - yes. Really worried. In fact, if you think you have clothes moths living anywhere near the piano, call me as soon as possible to discuss how we can implement the best prevention techniques...the larvae will feed on any natural fibres, not just clothes - so everything soft in a piano action is fair game, and there's plenty to choose from!

I started tuning pianos in 2013, and even once I had established a significant round, I very rarely saw a piano with fresh 'moth damage'. Fast forward to 2020 and I witnessed for the first time how destructive these blighters can be. The victim was a beautiful 2000's Kawai KG-2C, and what had initially been a fine example of a well made piano had become a wavy-hammered bowl of dust.

Upon close inspection, they had taken chunks out of every piece of material - leathers, baizes, box cloths, bushings, chasings, bearings and most annoyingly, hammers. The

quote to repair the piano WITHOUT genuine parts, would have totalled over £7,500...half the pianos value when bought! Needless to say, they didn't bother - in part, because after a bit of research they learned that moth eggs can lay dormant for 2 years, so until that time has passed without incident, there is no guarantee the minute eggs are actually gone...

Fast forward a bit further to last week (August 2026) - Out of the 25 pianos I attended for tuning, 7 of them had moths living in, around or underneath the piano. One customer stood out as a particularly helpful visit as she was an entymologist - she hypothesised that the climate becoming hotter has allowed such great conditions for them to thrive, and what I have witnessed is indeed a significant increase. Even in an outside gig a few weeks ago, the clothes moths were flying around my head! The lady in question had a Knight piano, although not quite as badly affected as the poor Kawai, still needed a few hundred £'s spent to get it functioning.

I recently picked up a piano for someone in Norwich who was looking to get it removed. Have a look at the picture to see the devastation they can cause. Needless to say the piano was a write-off - it would have probably cost in excess of £1,000 just to replace what was damaged on the keybed.

After much research, it seemed to be the consensus that Cedar oil and Lavender are the two best deterrents.

I am considering offering 'Moth Prevention Measures' as a service to customers. There's no guarantee they won't still be affected, but it certainly will provide a good deterrent, which is the best we can do. If you are interested, please call as soon as possible. I think it would be an option a lot of customers would jump at, given recent experience.

Even if you don't have a piano, but you have carpets, get in and check them. They are likely in the corners of the room/under furniture or in generally quiet/unused areas of the house. If you find them, get them out as soon as you can!

Hopefully some rain will prevent the spread of these pests - after all, 'we need it!'