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