Low Humidity Best?

[Guy, Karen, and Tor Nichols]

Mike,
	No doubt about it, we've got some real "beauts" out here, if the
evaporative coolers aren't used in the same room, or too much. I service
some grands and uprights that arrived on covered wagons, in our 9-10 inch
per year dryness, that almost look new-outta-the-box. No cracks, tune every
two-three years, and no action problems. The only common ailment is
slightly loose pin blocks, and they respond well to PBR.
	On the other hand.... we've got some over-cooked and some swamped
borderline basket cases, too. The average hygro swing here, in a house with
a swamp cooler, is 9% winter to 65% summer. It's worse for people that
don't understand how to use their swamps, and wind up pushing the inside
hygro to 70-80% during the August thundershower.
	I bet it's more humid where Newton is relaxing than it is here, now.

Guy



At 09:23 AM 1/8/98 +0000, you wrote:
>Hello List,
>     I am interested in your opinions concerning humidity.  In Michigan,
>most homes simply can't handle 40 percent as windows drip and rot in
>winter.  My father, Owen Jorgensen, keeps his Steinways at a constant 25
>percent, using only a dehumidifier in the summer.  Every few weeks he
>"fine tunes" his dehumidifier by listening to whether the lowest tenor
>strings are going flat or sharp with respect to the rest of the piano.
>(sharp notes mean dehumidifier must run more).  His 21 year old B has no
>cracks or compression ridges, is all teflon which never makes noise and
>never needs work, and he hasn't tuned the pianos in years, only touching
>up once in a while, yet they're in perfect tune all the time.  Both are
>played alot, the pitch stays right up, the strings are not rusty, and
>action parts work beautifully.  The A is all original except
>hammers/shanks and has many cracks but is 94 years old and likely had
>them before any of us were born. I see an awfully lot of "humidity
>controlled" pianos kept around 40-50 percent that seem to be falling
>apart and rusting away.  Comments?
>Mike Jorgensen RPT
>
>
Guy Nichols

"All the water in the world can't sink a ship.......unless it gets on the
inside."
						
							Ed Foreman