birdcage

[pianolover 88]

Hi list,

Looked at a "Mozart" birdcage piano today, and other than needing a good 
cleaning, everything seemed to be intact and in pretty decent shape, for its 
age, which I estimate at about 100 years. The Atlas does not correspond to 
the four digit serial number, which is 3748, so the age is a guess. Anyway, 
my tuning hammer fits the pins pretty good, and the action pulls away easily 
in order to strip mute the strings. It is approx. 175 cents flat, and the 
customer understands the real possibility of MANY broken strings, even if 
the pitch is not FULLY restored to A440. There is some mold on the base of 
shanks, and here and there, and a full cleaning is in order. the key board 
is fine, and everthing else seems ok. I will probably subcontract this job 
out, as i have never worked on or tuned a birdcage before...not that i would 
never work on one, but I just think i'd rather give it to a tech with plenty 
of birdcage experience. I'm busy enough right now as it is.
Question: this piano has been covered and stored in a garage for quite some 
time, and a variety of spiders (no widows that i could see) have made it 
their home, so i wondered if it would be safe for the piano to use a 
"fogger" placed in the base, activated and then put the kick board back? I 
know this would surely kill all the little creepy-crawlies, but would it 
damage the piano? I told the customer i would get back to her on that. Any 
advice on tnis? thanks!

Terry

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