Anyone have experience with smoke damaged pianos?

[Wimblees]

In a message dated 98-03-18 23:15:39 EST, you write:

>My concerns are with this element of acidity, as the
>insurance person had stated, in the smoke.  Will it have a further effect
>on the strings if the strings are simply cleaned.  Or am I better off
>restringing, of which I would rather do.
>About cleaning action parts, besides the obvious?
>What solutions and materials reverse the effect of smoke?
>I look foward to your replys..
>
>Tom Servinsky, RPT
>South Florida


Tom:

Smoke does have acid that causes strings to rust. Although it might not effect
the srings now, in about 10 years the acid will eat through the strings which
will cause them to break. The other thing to consider is that although you
might be able to get the rust off the speaking length of the strings, this
stuff is also in and under the preasure points of the strings, ie, the tuning
pins, aggraffs, bridge pins, etc. There is no way you can get this rust off
these areas. Therefore, my recommendation is to restring and repin the piano. 

As far as the action parts are concerned, unless you can clean each part, and
again, including all the hidden parts, these should also be replaced. The
hammer felt has obsorbed this smoke, and it will change the tone of the piano.

Getting rid of the smoke smell is another problem. There were some posts on
this several months ago. A smoke restoration company will be very helpful in
getting rid of this. I forget the method they use, but they should have a room
that eliminates smoke smells from furniture. Just include the piano.

One of the worst problem you, or your customer, will have to deal with is the
insurance company. Sometimes they do not understand what is involved in
getting a piano back to it's original condition. A piano might look ok on the
outside, but they don't know what damage was caused on the inside. If this is
a medium to low end piano,  the insurance company will problably opt to pay
for a new piano instead of getting it repaired.  

Good Luck

Willem Blees  RPT
St. Louis