A River Ran Through It

[Mike Swendsen]

The first thing that comes to mind is that water could have soaked into the
pinblock.  This would probably eventually cause the tuning pins to not be
able to hold, and what is worse the pinblock could delaminate.
best of luck.
-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Cole <tcole@cruzio.com>
To: pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org>
Date: Thursday, February 05, 1998 9:32 PM
Subject: A River Ran Through It


>Today, I was asked by an insurance company to look at a water-damaged
>1989 Kimball Viennese grand. I was the second technician to be hired,
>the first having given an extremely high bid, several thousand dollars.
>For the record, the first tech was not a PTG member.
>
>The jacuzzi upstairs had sprung a leak in a pressure line. The water ran
>from the point of the leak to an opening in the ceiling below for a fire
>sprinkler. That's right, there was a fire sprinkler directly over the
>piano (you know, in case of spontaneous combustion).
>
>So, last December, water had dripped down on to the music desk at the
>rate of about 16 ounces per minute, spilled from the tray into the plate
>webbing of the two treble tuning pin areas, thence into the
>corresponding sections of the action and, presumably, out the "keybed
>drain" (hole for shift lever).
>
>Everything is now dry and in remarkably good shape. No keys or action
>parts are sticking. There is some unevenness of hammer swings but it was
>probably that way before. The only rust is on the strings (mostly around
>tuning pins). The music desk tray felt became unglued. The piano is very
>out of tune. I cannot find anything else wrong and I'm concerned that I
>have overlooked something major.
>
>Anyone have ideas of what to look for?
>
>Tom
>--
>Thomas A. Cole RPT
>Santa Cruz, CA
>
>