Moldy bass strings

[Jim_Harvey@yca.ccmail.compuserve.com]

     >> Have any of you ever worked on or seen a piano which had bright
     green mold (not corrosion) on the bass strings?

     Yes, two times. Both were in colleges. Note: if you have no symptoms
     *other* than bass strings, the following is probably invalid.

     In the first, there was a ground water(?) problem, i.e., moisture
     coming up through the foundation of the old auditorium. (This didn't
     do the pipe organ any good either!)

     In the second, the auditorium is only five years old. In this
     instance, the contractors installed the chiller "backwards" (another
     ?? since I don't know how this can happen), causing it to add moisture
     instead of removing it. The results being that the piano thinks it's
     in a rain forest. Sample humidity reading: 54% in the parking lot
     (sans climate control); 87% at the piano -- same day, five minutes
     apart.

     In the former, the entire piano was producing penicillin, case and
     all. In the latter, only bass strings and some plate areas. In both, a
     host of other related problems.

     Jim Harvey RPT