Cleaning spills on bass wires?

[kitster@Polarnet.com]

Several years ago I got a call for a Kawai UST-7 used in a nightly 1 hr.
show at a local theatre/saloon that caters to tourists.  It was an
emergency...between two shows.  I got there and found most of the bass
section had no musical tone at all.  All the bass notes sounded pretty much
the same, like little hammers beating on a very cheap drum.  The pianist
(who played without the bottom board on the piano) admitted to spilling a
shot of peppermint schnapps into the piano.  

I got sevaral bar rags with hot water dripping from them and scrubbed the
bass strings for the half hour I had between shows.  It did a good job of
bringing the strings back to life, for almost exactly an hour, the length
of the show.  I did this for several days, before each show, before the
replacement strings arrived.

The point being, I guess, that in an emergency, Susan's suggestion will
work, and work well.  At least until the water evaporates.

Kit Cleworth


<snip>
>I have no idea if scrubbing them (with water) with a towel underneath 
>(blotting with a  dry rag as you go) would have any effect, but why not see?
>If you use a toothbrush with an angled head you can scrub the undersides,
>too, which is where the liquid will have accumulated the worst. If the spill
>is anywhere near the dampers, you'll have to take them out first. Good
>chance to see what might have gotten on them, too.

>Susan Kline
>
>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>(description of twisting and whipping bass strings)
><snip>
>>   Will these methods help if there something more gooey than rust under
>>the windings?  case in point:
>>A 4ft+ Kimball grand, an 8 inch diameter liquid stain encompassing about
>>14 bass wires. Eight of those wires sound noticably dead. I tried
>>letting the tension down and then up on the worst one, but there was not
>>the slightest improvement. Since the piano is in a drinking
>>establishment, a good candidate for the substance is wine, beer, or some
>>mixed drink.
>>   Short of replacing the wires, does someone have a technique that
>>might be tried first?  Has anyone had success or heard of anyone having
>>success with cleaning sections of spilled-on-wires such as: spraying a
>>solvent onto the wire, with a shallow pan or a dozen rags slid
>>underneath? Any other ideas ?
>>
>>Mike Erickson
>>
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