Hi Jeff, Take the keys out and bar clamp them, for a week with good air circulation. You may get lucky and straighten the whole mess out. Roger At 03:25 PM 8/22/02 -0400, you wrote: >I've pulled the action and brought it to my shop. Luckily, there appears >to be no moisture in the action stack (loosy goosy) and the hammers are >fine, but the keysticks from D18 to F#34 may be gone. I'm afraid the >keyframe may be beyond repair. Interestingly, the bass cheekblock shows a >lot of moisture damage to the finish, and the endpin is rusting, but the >first 17 keys move freely. The keybed is very wet, and the moisture has >been there long enough for mildew to begin to form (which, in 75%+ humidity >for the last 3 months could have been just waiting to happen anyway). It >also looks like the music desk may have limited the amount of water to the >pinblock area to just a few drops. The felt under the strings near the >pins doesn't feel damp to the touch, and the dampers appear to have avoided >getting wet as well. There is no evidence of water seepage from looking >beneath the pinblock. The amount of water I described as "standing on the >plate" was probably no more than a tablespoon in the little serial number >triangle, with maybe a half a teaspoon near the pins at the break. I am >not sure if this is "all that is left" or "all there ever was" of the water >in the pinblock area. If relatively good pitch is any indication, we may >be ok here. > >I am beginning artificial resusci...resussi...rescuss....CPR on the keys >and frame, just in case. Should I leave the keys on the frame in hopes >that they will be held in shape by the pins? or take them out of the frame >and take my chances on what interesting shapes come out? I expect that >leaving them on the frame would significantly slow drying time and trap >moisture, especially in the mortise areas, making the potential for new >growth more likely. But I'm going to start out that way until I get some >ideas from you guys. > >I'm guessing a low wattage (like 8 watts -- yes I still have an old one) >Dampp Chaser hung under the keyframe wouldn't be a good idea? I've got it >laying on a hand truck horizontally with a box fan blowing across it set on >low. > >Jeff > >Jeff Tanner >Piano Technician >School of Music >813 Assembly ST >University of South Carolina >Columbia, SC 29208 >(803)-777-4392 >jtanner@mozart.sc.edu Roger
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