Pianos Under Water

[Robert Goodale]

Lewis Spivey wrote:

> Hi List,
>
> Greetings from down under, not the equator but from Floyd's flood
waters in
> Eastern North Carolina, USA.  While I am high and dry, hundreds if
not
> thousands of pianos in my area have been swimming without scuba
gear. Many
> have been completely submerged for days and while others have only
gotten
> their legs or bottoms wet.  In my 25 plus years of piano service
nothing
> like this has ever been a problem.  Do any of you have experience
with
> flooded pianos. Are pianos that have under water rebuildable.  Any
help
> would be greatly appreciated.

A little too late for a damppe-chaser, huh?

I would guess that most of these pianos are a total loss.  Most older
pianos in particular are assembled entirely with hot hide glue.  Since
this is very water soluble it is unlikely that they would survive
after being completely submerged for at least a week.  Even if a piano
did survive the veneer would completely pull away and there would no
longer be any finish- so to speak.  Obviously the actions would be
beyond hope.  Even the keys would probably be warped beyond
practical repair.  We won't even discuss soundboards.  The only
remaining value for many of these might be certain parts, i.e. pedals,
wheels, action brackets/frames, and so on.  If you find any old but
desirable pianos no longer in production, (i.e. Steinway "A"), the
plates should be salvaged.  There is demand for these for pianos that
have broken plates which are beyond repair. It might also be worth
while to salvage things like fall boards and music desks.  Even though
the glue joints are bad they might be useful to someone for repairing.

As for pianos that are only partially submerged, (i.e. grands with
only the legs in the water), they could possibly be revived assuming
they were decent to begin with.  They will probably rust beyond belief
during the next few months though.  Likely they will need restringing,
new key pins, etc.  Watch out for verdigris too.  A complete
rebuilding would probably not be unreasonable.

Likely pianos are not on the owners priority list at the moment.  You
might want to consider starting a salvage purchasing program for some
rebuilding shops.  This will keep your income flowing and you would be
doing the locals a real favor by offering cash for what is left of
their pianos.  Cash would likely be a real blessing to them right
about now.

Good luck!!

Rob Goodale, RPT
Las Vegas, NV