Pianos Under Water

[Steve Grattan]

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.
> 
> Lewis Spivey, RPT
> Eastern North Carolina, USA

Lewis,

As a rebuilder for the past 18 years, I have only saved two pianos that
were flooded.  They were both family heirlooms.  In retrospect, neither
of them should have been kept.  Upon drying out, I tore them down. Every
glue joint had to be cleaned up and reglued.  I always question the
amount of damage that the water has done that is not visable.  All of
the hardware was rusted and corroded.  The pianos are still ok today but
I believe that their life was shortened and that one of these fine days
more problems will crop up.  I also could not warrant the rebuilding
other than the new parts.

My advice would be to let the majority of them go to the junk pile. 
There may be some that are rebuildable if they weren't submerged very
long.  Some jobs are not worth it.

Steve Grattan, Associate
Lost Chord Clinic