[pianotech] Winter

[Mark Potter]

Ron -
 
As a frequent sufferer, timely post, needless to say... 
 
For splits - for which hand creams only mess up possible fixes - I have had good success with medium viscosity CA.  Slower than tape to apply, and I suppose fraught with danger (gluing the applicator hand to the wounded digit), but nearly invisible and pretty hearty when correctly applied.  I little dabble dooya.  A God-send when ya gotta play piano for a holiday program on someone else's pristine white keys when ya got fingers that look to have been attacked by a single-edge razor. Holds up to several washings. 
 
Haven't tested it in raw hamburger yet, though.  I'm thinking I oughta keep some tape handy...
 
Mark Potter

--- On Fri, 12/12/08, Ron Nossaman <rnossaman at cox.net> wrote:

From: Ron Nossaman <rnossaman at cox.net>
Subject: [pianotech] Winter
To: caut at ptg.org, "Pianotech" <Pianotech at ptg.org>
Date: Friday, December 12, 2008, 2:18 PM

'Tis the season for the reminder. Tired of leaving blood on 
the keys wherever you go from last month through March and beyond?

Hand creams are for the most part a waste of time. If they 
work for you, it's because you don't have a real problem. They 
don't work for me, and feel creepy. So what does work? There 
are two kinds of people, those who don't believe this, and 
those who have tried it.

Masking tape, the cheap garden variety stuff. Just tape, 
nothing else. Tape holds the split together, halting it's 
propagation immediately. It holds in blood well enough too, 
until the finger stops bleeding. Then it holds in the natural 
moisture of the skin, softening the edges of the split until 
it can heal up. It's also a good buffer, so you can go back to 
beating on those keys immediately after taping a new split, 
without discomfort. Change the tape when it looks too ratty, 
but leave some on for a couple of days. When you finally take 
it off, the finger is healed enough to abuse further without 
taking any unnecessary precautions with it. If you tape up 
abused fingers before starting, it will prevent the split in 
the first place, otherwise it's an after the fact fix that 
gets you back to work immediately.

For occasional radical therapy, make hamburger patties. 
Nothing soothes hurt meat like dead meat. Rinse off afterward, 
but no soap. Let it soak in for a couple of hours as you 
digest your burger, and don't play with the ferret.

Tip #2:
Stepping out on an icy porch in nice warm shoes is a really 
good way to initiate a quick and memorable study in piano 
tuner ballistics. Stand there for a few seconds until the 
soles of your shoes chill down and it won't be nearly as 
slippery.

We now return to our regularly scheduled whatever.
Ron N

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