rusted piano strings

[mccleskey112 at bellsouth.net]

Hey Don:  I live in northwest Louisiana in the metropolitan area of 
Shreveport - Bossier City, about 250,000 to 300,000 population. We have 
Barksdale Air Force base and 5 riverboat casinos. We are 30 miles south of 
Arkansas and 15 miles east of Texas. Most of the homes built since the 70's 
in the south have plenty of insulation and central air conditioning. Since 
RH is a major concern in the operation of air conditioning the units are 
made to control the RH at a very comfortable level depending on where you 
have your thermostat set. So ,by and large, the high RH is outside. Temps., 
in the summer range from the upper 70's to about 110 degrees, depending on 
where the weather is coming from. Off of the gulf the humidity is in the 
90,s - the temp. from upper 80's to upper 90's. From Texas - Oklahoma. 
Humidity in the 70's - temp. in the upper 90's to over 100 degrees. Until 
just recently I tuned for a university near by and they have a major problem 
with humidity. They have a number of S&S B's that have major string rust and 
all the other problems that go with humidity problems. Obviously their 
climate control system sucks.
It's pretty obvious that we all have our own ideas about how rust is 
introduced to piano strings. We all know it comes from moisture, but why and 
how the moisture gets there is probably not going to be agreed upon. So, I 
have enjoyed the exchange of ideas and look forward to further exchanges.
Have a good day.

Gerald McCleskey RPT
Shreveport,LA

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Don" <pianotuna at accesscomm.ca>
To: "Pianotech List" <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 7:25 AM
Subject: Re: rusted piano strings


> Hi Gerald,
>
> Piano wire is often coated with something that tends to prevent rust from
> starting. Is that 90% RH in homes or outside? How hot is it? (where do you
> live--nothing in your email tells us).
>
> At 11:06 PM 2/18/2008 -0600, you wrote:
>>Don: Sorry but we don't have that problem down here. We run 90% RH  about
>>half of the time during the summer and no rust. I don't understand. What 
>>is
>>the differance? Strange Huh?
>>Gerald McC
> Regards,
> Don Rose, B.Mus., A.M.U.S., A.MUS., R.P.T.
> Non calor sed umor est qui nobis incommodat
>
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>
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