Finger Gunk on Keys

[James Ellis]

I have been reading the recent posts re cleaning gunk off keys, and I can
no longer resist getting into this one.  If there was anything my older
sister ever taught me when I was just a little boy that I remember, it was
not to play the piano with dirty hands.  Now, approaching 75 years of age
and 60 some years of tuning, here's what I use to clean keys:  A damp cloth
for the naturals and sharps - damp with pure water, nothing else - just
damp, NOT wet.  If I can wring any water out of it, it's too damp.  It does
take some rubbing along with the damp cloth.  For the wood below the key
tops, nothing wet, I carefully scrape.  CAREFULLY.  I have seen too many
keys butchered on the sides.

The last performance Rachmaninoff ever gave was in Knoxville Tennessee in
1943.  He died a few weeks later.  The man who tuned the piano for that one
(now deceased) once told me that Rachmaninoff chewed him out because he did
not clean the keys.  As many of you know, the late Artur Rubinstein did not
want the keys cleaned before his performances - but if they were, a little
hair spray would fix it.  

Sincerely, Jim Ellis