Yo,
Smoke is unburned particles. It's very sticky and carries an odor with it.
It sticks to everthing, even teflon. It's acidic by nature and can really
raise hell with metal in a BIG FAT HURRY. So, generally speaking, you need
to go and wipe down all the strings immediately. Some alcohol on a rag
works nice. Lots of rags, a wee bit of alcohol.
The intensity of the smoke in the area is a major factor to consider.
Smell the insides of the pianos and let your nose tell you how bad it is.
If you can't smell much, there ain't much damage. If when you wipe your
finger across the plate you get a sooty finger (smell it), wipe the strings
down.
If the smoke was hot when it entered the area, it will stick to the keys.
Nothing short of carburator cleaner removes it. After using the carb
cleaner you'll need to either buff a bunch or replace.
The Disklaviers' electrical components won't suffer much with the exception
of the solenoid plungers. If smoke was really heavy in that area, the odds
of it getting on the plungers is really really slim, but it could cause
gummyness later. The rest of the mechanism is virtually unaffected by
light smoke. You might consider cleaning the disk drives if the smoke was
heavy. The micro switches under the push buttons are sealed so no effect
there.
You possibly have lots of work to do, AND SOON!!!
The sooner you get to the metal parts, the less effect the acidic action of
the smoke will have on the strings. I've seen some pianos that weren't
wiped down that had some serious visits with smoke and the strings, after
many years, looked like they were left out in the rain for as many years.
It still tuned up and sounded kinda funky, but the strings were B R O W N!!!
later
Lar
Larry Fisher RPT
specialist in players, retrofits, and other complicated stuff
phone 360-256-2999 or email larryf@pacifier.com
http://www.pacifier.com/~larryf/ (revised 10/96)
Beau Dahnker pianos work best under water
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