Whole room humidity control better than Dampp Chaser. ( Right?)

[Greg Newell]

Andrew,

                I also agree with you! This does, however, morph from the
original point of what the DC unit does or does not do. I agree that a
string cover will help with the rusty strings issue. I don’t believe that
the DC unit will help with same.

 

Greg Newell

Greg's Piano Forté

www.gregspianoforte.com

216-226-3791 (office)

216-470-8634 (mobile)

 

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Andrew and Rebeca Anderson
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2008 9:51 AM
To: Pianotech List
Subject: RE: Whole room humidity control better than Dampp Chaser. ( Right?)

 

Greg,
A wool-felt string-cover alone will protect the strings against rust.  That
has been well established by grand pianos in (ocean front) beach-houses with
string-covers that have brand-new looking interiors after decades as
compared to their unprotected neighbors.  Wool has the natural capacity to
buffer humidity and any sort of cover probably prevents condensation.  This
is the first accessory I recommend.

Add a DC system and undercover and you will then reduce the sound-board
oscillation to negligible resulting in tunings that last until your next
service.  You get to do a concert level tuning each time you return to the
instrument.  

I have two Sauters on the floor here.  They are fine pianos which are much
more stabile than average.  One has a DC with undercover and the other has
DC with undercover and string-cover.  The one without the string-cover is
noticeably (to me) affected by the weather.  The other one hasn't been tuned
in a coon's age and still has a solid tuning on it.

YMMV
Andrew Anderson

At 07:48 AM 2/18/2008, you wrote:



Patrick,
I completely agree. My post, however, was dealing with the prevention of
oxidation and/or rust not the promotion of it. A DC unit in a grand won’t do
much to prevent it. One could argue that the string cover will retain some
of the DC unit’s effects but it seems to me that little is afforded here
since the only pass through from the underside of the soundboard to the top
side are through the nose bolt holes. I doubt that the amount of air passing
through these holes in the board are enough to effect much of a change
topside.
 
Greg Newell
Greg's Piano Forté
www.gregspianoforte.com <http://www.gregspianoforte.com/> 
216-226-3791 (office)
216-470-8634 (mobile)
 
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [ mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org
<mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org> ] On Behalf Of J Patrick Draine
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2008 7:59 AM
To: Pianotech List
Subject: Re: Whole room humidity control better than Dampp Chaser. ( Right?)
 
Greg,
My (anecdotal) observation is that a standard DC installation on a grand
will not promote oxidation of steel strings and copper windings, while usage
of a room humidifier often will result in rapid accumulation of rust & dull
brown copper windings. If customers are inclined to use a room humidifier I
urge them to keep the lid closed when not in use. Customers sometimes blast
the mist right into the piano -- sigh -- they think they're "doing the right
thing."
 
Patrick Draine
 
On Feb 18, 2008 12:36 AM, Greg Newell <gnewell at ameritech.net> wrote:

 I believe that it's even a bit of a stretch to claim that it helps to
prevent rusty strings in a grand as the pictures would seems to indicate. 

 

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