smoke damaged pianos, reply

[Wimblees]

In a message dated 98-03-24 09:57:57 EST, you write:

>Wim writes:
><<When you are dealing with a $80,000 instrument, the customer has the right
>to
><<demand that it be put back to its original condition. 
>
>      Yes, but no more right than the customer with a $2,000 console.

I don't quite understand why you make this statement. An insurance company is
not going to pay $5000 to repair a $2000 piano. The problem is, are we, as
technicians, going to tell the insurance company that it is going to cost
$5000 to properly repair this $2000 piano, (which assures the insurance
company will give the customer a check for $2000 to buy anbother piano), or
are we going to tell them that for $500 we can polish the case, and blow out
the dust, so that we can get the job? 



>>Blowing out the dust
>>with an aircompressor is not the same as cleaning everything from top to
>>bottom. Perhpas you have never worked with plaster dust. This stuff is
>nasty.
>
>     Hmm.  I worked with plaster dust far more than I wanted to, and yes, it
>is unpleasant,but no more so than many other airborne particles.  It is
>inert,
>and I also don't see why a piano would have to be destrung to be cleaned.
>???
Ed Foote


I guess you have to see the extent of the dust to appreciate the extent to
which I have to go to remove it. The other thing to remember, is that this is
not just dust from a rug. If you have worked with plaster dust, you should
know it is very abrasive, and even sticky. Blowing it out of the piano is not
going to do the job. As with soot from a fire, this stuff has gotten into the
coils on the pins, around the hitch pins, and into the action. 

Willem Blees