Too Helpful Customer

[Ron Nossaman]

> I had to pull a drop action on a 60 year old Kimball spinet.  After I 
> had removed the action, and keys, the owner asked if he could vacuum the 
> dust under the keys etc.  Glad to have the help,  I accepted his 
> assistance.  After tinkering with the action on a table in the next 
> room, I return to the piano and found the owner, scrubbing the strings 
> with a big scrub brush and bucket of water. 

This is unusual. The typical result of unwisely (incidentally) 
turning an owner loose on the unprotected keyframe with a 
vacuum is a vacuum bag full of punchings, and an opportunity 
to start from scratch.


> AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!  After 
> drying them with paper towels, I finished the job uneventfully.  Anyone 
> have any predictions on the life of this piano from experience?  
> Remember this is Florida.

 From experience? No, but maybe you'll report back if the red 
fur takes the strings over, the better to remind us all not to 
let this happen.

Bummer.
Ron N