On Tue, Jan 20, 2009 at 2:47 PM, Barbara Richmond <piano57 at comcast.net>wrote: > Greetings, > > > > I received a call a couple weeks ago from a woman who reported that a pipe > broke in their house and water poured into her Samick grand piano (twenty > years old--if I could just find my atlas). We made an appointment (for this > morning) and I thought it would be a clear cut <condemn the piano> thing. > Well...I've never inspected a flooded piano before. The piano played, no > sluggishness, I couldn't see any trace of water stains on the action or > keybed. There was rust on the leg hardware in the keybed on the treble side > (photo1). There is some rust at the coils. (photo 2) The only place the > piano looked <clean> (no dust) was the straight side of the soundboard. > Underneath there was a rib separated (photo 3) and then at the bass cut-off, > it looked like there was some possible damage (a wedge of split wood that > was loose), but I wasn't totally sure (photo 4) because the soundboard work > (rib gluing) looks sort of sloppy in general. The owner said that there had > never been any soundboard repairs or any other repairs done on the piano. > There's a spot in the treble bridge with problems, but I don't know if it > had anything to do with the water (photo 5). And this soundboard problem > goes the entire length of the board (photo 6). > > > > There were places on the case and dampers where I could see water spots, > but all the dust seemed intact. Wouldn't pouring water displace it? Hmm. > I asked again about the amount of water. The owner called her nephew who > said the front lid was open and water went into the piano. When the flood > service team came in, they put a bucket under the piano to catch water that > was draining out of the instrument. She described a large bucket with 3-4 > inches of water in it. It seems odd to me, but maybe not being able to see > stains or whatever from the water is normal. Can someone enlighten me here? > > > > I explained to the customer that it can take time for the effects of water > damage to manifest themselves in full. She said she wanted it to be settled > as soon as possible...of course. > > > > How does one, if it is possible, predict what might happen to the piano? > Would you recommend strings, block, bridge repair, and a DC system? The > action is functioning normally now; could there be a delayed freeze-up of > action centers? > > > > Thanks for your comments. > > > > Barbara Richmond, RPT > > near Peoria, IL > > > Hi Barbara, It's sometimes surprising how much water can run through a piano without significantly damaging it. If the water did indeed just run through the primarily finished portion of the piano it might not have soaked in too much. I just returned a grand that was damaged by an ice dam that caused a roof leak onto the piano and down the wall next to it last spring. The top was closed so the water ran into the action, through it in a small area and through the open type keybed onto the floor it also ran onto the soundboard and pins/pinblock/plate in a limited area. It was overdue for a rebuild and refinish anyway so after checking it out, carefully, ascertaining there was no permanent damage beyond some exploded hammers, water stains and rust in some places where there wouldn't normally be. Some extra work here and there polishing and possibly some whippen repair or replacement on those that got wet, it was a pretty straightforward rebuild and refinish. It finished beautifully, regulated great WNG action, got new hammers, flanges, shanks, dampers, key bushings keytops had already been done. I restrung it, had Arledge do the wound strings and I rescaled it with the help of a couple of members of my Chapter. The customer loves it! My advice to you Barbara would be to not be in a hurry and advise your customers that rushing could cost them in the long run. Wait a few months and see if anything changes or if it doesn't. Insurance adjusters are always in a hurry until you point out to them that if you have to decide now, your decision will HAVE to be to replace the instrument. However if they can wait a few months PERHAPS not. Then say nothing and let them decide. As we used to say when I was in sales, he who speaks first, loses! (grin) Mike -- I intend to live forever. So far, so good. Steven Wright Michael Magness Magness Piano Service 608-786-4404 www.IFixPianos.com email mike at ifixpianos.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20090121/7483dcc0/attachment-0001.html>
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