Hope some of you might know what is going on with this piano. It is about a 14 yr old Kawai GS-30 and four years ago, the household sprinkler system went off overhead while the owner was at work. The piano was completely closed (lid and fallboard down) and water was sprayed on the high polish finish of this piano for an undetermined amount of time. The immediate observation was that water had not directly poured into the action or pinblock area, but the action was damp and the keys were stuck. The first piano tech on the scene pronounced it a write-off. Actually, I would too using my formula water + wood + piano + plus insurance premiums = insurance company replaces the piano. However, for some reason, a second technician was called out about a week or so later. The piano had dried out a bit by then, and he didn't feel that there was sufficient damage to the instrument to rate an ethical pronouncement of piano replacement. The piano owner had bought the instrument used. Anyway, a decision was made to replace the strings and tuning pins that had rusted from this accident - perhaps a dozen. The insurance company settled the claim and covered all the repairs that Tech 2 thought necessary. By the end of the repair work, several months later, no rust was apparent. Now, four years later, corrosion is rampant, but in an odd way. The new strings and pins are fine. The speaking lengths of all the strings are fine. Only on some sections where the strings cross the understring felt is there rust. All the coils are rusted, but it almost looks to me like the plating on the old tuning pins is rusting, not the coils themselves. There is also rust on the INSIDE of the brass agraffe holes and at the bases of the agraffes. My guess is that the rust is appearing on the metal underneath the various platings where the plating has worn off - like the edges of the tuning pins that contact the tuning hammer tip; where string coils friction may have scratched the plating on the tuning pins, and on the agraffes where the strings passing thru the holes have worn the brass plating thin. Perhaps the rust appearing at the base of the agraffes is where the threads underneath the agraffes are not solid brass, but plated steel. Would a reasonable repair be to clean off the rust, and spray lacquer on the tuning pins and coils and agraffes? Would that hurt anything? Could there have been something corrosive that eats plating sitting in the sprinkler pipes? I think residential fire sprinkler systems use PVC pipe, not galvanized steel ones. The insurance company says they settled the claim years ago and they are not interested in funding anymore repairs. I have been asked to give a second opinion in this case, but I have never seen anything like it. How about you guys? Carol Beigel
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