Cleaning Ivories

[John Musselwhite]

At 03:28 PM 1/15/96 -0700, you wrote:

>> in the newsgroup rec.music.makers.piano, on the subject of cleaning
>> ivories, which recommends the use of VODKA! WOW! And to think all these
>> years I've only been using naptha...

Naptha?  Yike!  For real ivory I like a little ivory soap on a damp cloth
and buff it dry. In real bad cases I've even used Mr. Clean! I try to avoid
the use of flammable materials, and even switched to a butane heat pencil
rather than use an alcohol lamp.

>regulating, the client comes in and says, "My grandmother always said to
>clean the keys with MILK!"  I was just about to launch into my
>explanation that this was just an old wives tale, when she whips out a
>bowl of milk and says, "so I want to try it right now." She cleaned the
>keys with milk, and it worked great. Go figure!

I'm sure we see that all the time. I've seen customers clean PLASTIC with milk!

I now carry a small spray bottle of a key cleaner/disinfectant in my tools
along with clean old face cloths. Since children (and adults!) are infamous
for not washing their hands before they play, and since hands are the main
means of transferring germs,  I've learned to clean the keys BEFORE I touch
them even if they look clean. I tell the customer it's "part of the service".

Since I started doing that (along with taking 4 Kyolic Garlic capsules a
day) I rarely get sick and it used to be a running battle all winter to keep
my sinuses clear.

                        John

John Musselwhite, RPT
Calgary, Alberta Canada
musselj@cadvision.com