Hi Chris, >I wonder if anyone out there has a good method for de-oderizing a smelly >old upright piano. Apparently it was quite the hang-out for the in mice >crowd. Upon opening it up for the first time, I saw different colored >threads strung all over the action like streamers at a party. lots of >confetti too! > >Is there a way to get the mice urine smell out of the keybed? It has soaked >into the wood. I have used a product that I bought from a wholesale drycleaning suppler called EX-IT. It is (or was, I haven't bought it for some time) manufactured by the Big D Chemical Co., Oklahoma City, OK. I used it to treat the smoke smell in pianos that were in housefires, but it is also supposed to be effective on other stuff (use your imagination, I just ate breakfast). I just rebushed a set of keys that were soaked in rodent urine, and they were vile! I would be cautious about working around mouse infested pianos, since the urine and feces can carry the deadly Hanta virus, and who knows what else. I examined a small grand that was much as you described. I advised the new owner to burn it. Besides being smelly, the urine is very corrosive to metal parts. There was some sort of "fur" growing off the strings and keypins. I was also conviced that all of the action centers were ruined because of the corrosion of the center pins. There was no way the job would pencil out, and I didn't think the results would be satisfactory either. Mark Mark Story, RPT Eastern Washington University | mstory@ewu.edu Cheney, Washington, USA | mark.story@phunnet.org
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