Jim, Here's a copy of the email I sent out to faculty today. I cribbed most of it from the list... Faculty Members, Every year I get a lot of questions about cleaning the keyboard of pianos. This year everyone is especially concerned about sanitizing to prevent the spread of virus. I have been using cheap baby wipes with no alcohol to clean keyboards. It does a good job and is convenient to use but I'm not sure how effective the mild soap is on killing the virus. I am forwarding an email below from a piano technician that suggests the use of Hydrogen Peroxide. It's not as convenient but should do a better job of killing germs. Please do be careful not to spill it directly on the piano, of course. Pour a small amount onto a clean cotton cloth and then go over the keys. Also, please DO NOT use any product with alcohol. Alcohol will cause the plastic key tops to become rough and dull. It can also ruin the lacquer finish on older sharp keys. If you use an alcohol based hand sanitizer, please be sure to wait until the product has completely evaporated from your hands before beginning to play. Thank you, Chris Begin forwarded message: > From: JBairdRPT at cs.com > Date: September 14, 2009 8:01:59 PM EDT > To: CAUT at ptg.org > Subject: [CAUT] Disinfecting keys -- H1N1 virus > Reply-To: caut at ptg.org > > My university has inquired about wipes for disinfecting piano keys > to prevent the spread of the H1N1 virus? Any suggestions? > > I found this on the web: > > Products that will kill the H1N1 virus are alcohol, hydrogen > peroxide, heat, iodophors, some soaps and chlorine. > > ... and Roger Jolly wrote this about disinfecting keys some years > ago on pianotech: > > Wipe them with Hydrogen Peroxide, available from any drug store. > Doctors and nurses use it for cleaning minor wounds. It will not > damage > Ivory or plastic. > > Thanks, > > John Baird On Sep 15, 2009, at 9:13 PM, Jim Busby wrote: > > > All, > > The Dean at Snow College just asked if there is anything that can be > sprayed on the piano keys to kill germs and avoid passing swine flu > around. Any thoughts? I guess it's good they asked me, before hosing > down the pianos with Lysol... > > Thanks. > > Jim Busby > BYU and Snow College Christopher D. Purdy R.P.T. Registered Piano Technician School of Music, Ohio University Rm. 311, Robt. Glidden Hall Athens, OH 45701 Office (740) 593-1656 Cell (740) 590-3842 fax (740) 593-1429 http://www.ohiou.edu/music -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20090915/4bd50f6e/attachment-0001.htm>
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