Hi, Gordon -- A little philosophizing about hazards, the world, immune systems, etc. The world is and always has been a dangerous place, and the way human beings adapt to all the various dangers is mainly by compromise and accommodation. We starved in the ice ages -- so now we fatten. We adapted to parasites (omnipresent) so now that we don't have them we tend to accumulate too much iron and we have more allergies. Filth, microbes, animal droppings -- which of us would be here if our ancestors couldn't cope with such things? In our present very quickly changing, crowded, and unbalancing environment, some of us hyper-react to different things. Thump, if you can't handle common microbes and animal byproducts, then you should stay away from them, of course. Only, please don't destroy unique, irreplaceable, wonderful-sounding pianos because of a need to imagine that your own problems are universal. Also, if you can't sanitize these pianos now, please don't assume that no one else will ever be able to. Everything changes, and people are always finding out new ways to do things. This doesn't mean that you should sell smelly pianos to people who may be petless because they are as sensitive and allergic as you are. Only please don't assume that it is your duty to remove them from the earth. There aren't many wonderful old Packard grands out there, and it pains me to imagine that there might be one less because of someone's fear of dog dirt. And Packard isn't going to make any more of them. End of rant ... Susan At 05:26 AM 3/5/2003 -0800, you wrote: >Dear Susan, > A piano which has had, by the landlady's own >admission, a pile of German Shepherd feces under it a >foot high, is NEVER going to lose the stench! NOT >EVER! Not if it is stripped inside and out and the >whole action replaced. Not no way, not no how! ( As >they say down here. ) > Fortunately, though, I have learned NOT to be >lured by the cheap price or glorious sound of such >instruments, and bring them home! I have gotten VERY, >VERY ill from having them in my shop ( hospitalized, >actually )and this is NOT just an aesthetic situation. >It is a BIOLOGICAL one! Would you want a pile of >German Shepherd feces in an operating room where you >were being incised? Didn't think so. And neither would >you want the surgeons to wear gowns which had been >hanging in such a room! If you can smell it, its >airborne and septic! Mark my words. > Yes, I feel terrible everytime I must destroy a >piano. Particularly a nice one. But the crime is NOT >mine! It is the low-class @#@#$%**^%#@!%*'s who >treated it such in the first place! I will not even >give away a piano which could cause a child forced to >take lessons an illness, and believe that I would go >to hell if I sold it to them! > Remember: Once people pay money for something >they become increasingly attached to it, and keep it >even if doing so is unwise. > And I have seen pianos owned by VERY rich people >which were so crammed with mouse crap that I could >smell them 10 feet off, and have warned such people >that it would be criminal to sell this piano to >anyone. I have even offered to buy the piano from them >myself and destroy it ( a LOT of work! ) so that it >harms no one. Yet they'll sell it anyways. And for >what? An extra hundred buck? Is that worth endangering >someone's ( probably a child's )health and reaping >God's wrath, the Karmic repurcussions thereof! > I quite assure you, that it is NOT! > So, let us not allow sentimentality impair our >commen sense. Pianos are fun. But not endangering >people is far, far more important! > Goirdon Stelter > >"But, for whosoever harms one of these little ones who >believes in me, it would be far better for them, at >their judgement, to have a millstone placed around >their neck and be thrown into the sea!"---Jesus > >--- Susan Kline <sckline@attbi.com> wrote: > > At 12:14 AM 3/5/2003 -0700, Thump wrote: > > >I had to turn down because of the pile > > >of excrement that had been under it? > > > > "Turning down" is one thing, "destroying" > > is another entirely. If you destroy a piano > > because YOU think it smells bad, you are > > doing a disservice to all the people who > > could have owned and enjoyed it, who either > > have pets themselves or who do not put such > > a large importance on odor. > > > > It's not as if you were going to be forced to > > share your living space with such instruments -- > > but you shouldn't inflict your own very particular > > standards on the whole piano-using public by > > destroying perfectly good instruments. > > > > Just MHO. > > > > Susan > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > pianotech list info: >https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives > > >__________________________________________________ >Do you Yahoo!? >Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more >http://taxes.yahoo.com/ >_______________________________________________ >pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
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