I've pulled the action and brought it to my shop. Luckily, there appears to be no moisture in the action stack (loosy goosy) and the hammers are fine, but the keysticks from D18 to F#34 may be gone. I'm afraid the keyframe may be beyond repair. Interestingly, the bass cheekblock shows a lot of moisture damage to the finish, and the endpin is rusting, but the first 17 keys move freely. The keybed is very wet, and the moisture has been there long enough for mildew to begin to form (which, in 75%+ humidity for the last 3 months could have been just waiting to happen anyway). It also looks like the music desk may have limited the amount of water to the pinblock area to just a few drops. The felt under the strings near the pins doesn't feel damp to the touch, and the dampers appear to have avoided getting wet as well. There is no evidence of water seepage from looking beneath the pinblock. The amount of water I described as "standing on the plate" was probably no more than a tablespoon in the little serial number triangle, with maybe a half a teaspoon near the pins at the break. I am not sure if this is "all that is left" or "all there ever was" of the water in the pinblock area. If relatively good pitch is any indication, we may be ok here. I am beginning artificial resusci...resussi...rescuss....CPR on the keys and frame, just in case. Should I leave the keys on the frame in hopes that they will be held in shape by the pins? or take them out of the frame and take my chances on what interesting shapes come out? I expect that leaving them on the frame would significantly slow drying time and trap moisture, especially in the mortise areas, making the potential for new growth more likely. But I'm going to start out that way until I get some ideas from you guys. I'm guessing a low wattage (like 8 watts -- yes I still have an old one) Dampp Chaser hung under the keyframe wouldn't be a good idea? I've got it laying on a hand truck horizontally with a box fan blowing across it set on low. Jeff Jeff Tanner Piano Technician School of Music 813 Assembly ST University of South Carolina Columbia, SC 29208 (803)-777-4392 jtanner@mozart.sc.edu
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