I believe that it was in 1958 or thereabouts that the ASPT convention had its main focus on this problem, and enlisted the aid of scientists from the US Dept. of Agticulture. They had been investigating it for the military, because of the problem of storing seven million wool army blankets.As I remember it, there were three main insects they dealt with, the webbing clothes moth, silverfish and carpet beetles. The first two are fairly easy to deal with, but carpet beetles were actually mistaken for moths most of the time, and extremely difficult to get rid of. They tested the supply houses' solutions and pronounced all of them ineffective. Shortly afterwards. the supply houses elimintated these items from their catalogs. The conclusion was that sanitation was the preferred approach, but did come up with a chemical however, a mixture of lindaine and DDT, but warned agaist its toxicity and corrosive effect on metal surfaces. A few technicians volunteered to take some home and experiment, and later condemmed it. As for mothballs, it was agreed that tthey do kill moths, but only with a direct hit. It used to be common to find small cloth bags containing crystals inside pianos I think these were paradichloridebenzene, which is nasty stuff and proven ineffective too. Larry Scheer, one of the funniest people I have ever known, brought his moth eradicator. It consisted of of two squares of wood hinged together; the lower one had printed on it to place the moth in the center and bring the top down sharply. As a technician I knew long aago, said "The moths are our little friends". One would occasionally run into pianos with the keyframe liberally supplied with a powder called Paris Green. It did not do anything either, except turn into dirt, and thus a fertile breeding ground. I would comment that if one has to replace infested keyframe punchings it is essential to replace all the paper punchings too. I have seen too many pianos where this was not done, with inevitable re-infestation. We do not seem to see anywhere near the amount of insect damage we used to, and I understand that some sort of mothproofing is done during the manufacturing process, Ted Sambell ----- Original Message ----- From: "Barbara Richmond" <piano57 at insightbb.com> To: "Ed Sutton" <ed440 at mindspring.com>; "College and University Technicians" <caut at ptg.org> Sent: Sunday, May 13, 2007 10:30 PM Subject: Re: [CAUT] Critter-damaged punchings > Ed, > > Maybe I've misunderstood all these years, but aren't you supposed to have > something with some form of liquid/moisture in a microwave when running it > or it (the appliance) might be damaged? Would potential critter eggs > supply enough moisture? > > Barbara Richmond > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Ed Sutton" <ed440 at mindspring.com> > To: "College and University Technicians" <caut at ptg.org> > Sent: Sunday, May 13, 2007 12:28 PM > Subject: Re: [CAUT] Critter-damaged punchings > > >> Annie- >> >> How about microwaving them? >> >> Ed Sutton >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Annie Grieshop" <annie at allthingspiano.com> >> To: "College and University Technicians" <caut at ptg.org> >> Sent: Sunday, May 13, 2007 12:33 PM >> Subject: [PHISH] Re: [CAUT] Critter-damaged punchings >> >> >>> Israel, >>> >>> Put the new punchings in a cloth or mesh bag, toss the bag in a >>> clothesdryer, and let it tumble for 15-20 minutes. That will certainly >>> kill >>> any larvae and probably do in the eggs, as well, without any chemicals >>> at >>> all. Heat would guarantee the eggs are killed (and it shouldn't harm >>> the >>> punchings -- try it with a few to find out), but even cold-air tumbling >>> will >>> probably do a thorough job on them. >>> >>> The bag does need to get thrown around inside the dryer, so you might >>> have >>> to add tennis balls or tennis shoes (the same procedure as fluffing a >>> down >>> comforter). >>> >>>>From your description, my guess is the damage was done before the pianos >>> left the factory and is not an ongoing problem. But better to have some >>> extra insurance. >>> >>> Annie Grieshop >>> >>>> -----Original Message----- >>>> From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org]On Behalf Of >>>> Israel Stein >>>> Sent: Sunday, May 13, 2007 9:39 AM >>>> To: caut at ptg.org >>>> Subject: [CAUT] Critter-damaged punchings >>>> >>>> >>>> At 11:01 AM 5/11/2007, James Ellis wrote: >>>> >Whenever I would find moth-critter damage to punchings, I would strip >>>> >the >>>> >keybed clean - puncings, key cloth, and all, clean the whole piano >>>> >thoroughly, looking for any evidence of moth eggs. If I found them, >>>> >the >>>> >job would become more extensive. After that, there would usually be >>>> >no >>>> >problem, provided the piano was cleaned once in a while. >>>> > >>>> >Tuners Supply Company used to have a moth proofing liquid called >>>> >X-Hale. >>>> >Fumes from that stuff were so strong they would make your eyes >>>> burn. There >>>> >was no water in it. One would soak the insides of the piano >>>> with it, close >>>> >it up, and cover it for 24 hours. No live critters or eggs would be >>>> >left >>>> >after that, and the funes would soon dissipate after opening the >>>> piano back >>>> >up. >>>> > >>>> >That was 60 years ago. I don't have that problem now. Israel, >>>> do you find >>>> >the damage in several pianos? If so, there is a common source of >>>> >these >>>> >critters, and perhaps you should get the pest control people involved. >>>> >Clean the pianos out, and replace anything that shows any sign of >>>> >critter >>>> >gnawing. You don't want to leave any critter eggs in there. >>>> > >>>> >Good Luck, Jim Ellis >>>> >>>> >>>> Jim, >>>> >>>> Thanks for the information. We found the problem in several pianos - >>>> but only in Asian ones: Yamahas and the Korean Kohler & Campbells, >>>> all about 10 years old. No problems with American pianos - and we do >>>> have lots of much older Steinways, Baldwins, Wurlitzers and Everetts >>>> at the school. So we suspect that the critters are imported with the >>>> pianos from the source country and are not a local infestation. I >>>> hear that this is common. Since there are no wool furnishings around >>>> here - curtains, stuffed chairs, carpets, etc. - I don't see how >>>> these critters would spread from piano to piano. Add I don't see >>>> moths flying around. But then there is the theater department on the >>>> other end of the building - costume shop, wardrobe, prop storage... >>>> Hmm... Maybe I should check with them about moth damage in their >>>> stuff... >>>> >>>> Yamaha sent us a bunch of replacement punchings free - but I hesitate >>>> to put them in pianos, since they might be the source of the >>>> infestation... Maybe fumigating them with or dipping them in one of >>>> the suggested substances before use might be a good idea? >>>> >>>> Israel Stein. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>> >>
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