Clyde Hollinger wrote: > > Dear Bill: > > I have a client who just purchased one of these imported used pianos, > reportedly about 35 years old. I haven't examined it yet, but at a > casual glance it looked OK. Should I recommend the installation of a > complete Dampp-Chaser system? Clyde, I have several pre-1970 Yamaha verticals in my clientel. They have moderately loose pins but can be tuned. In my 26 years of piano serivce experience, grands - both Yamaha and Kawai - from this era are more likely to be a total loss within a year. This issue has been discussed at length on this list recently, but I still think there may be some confusion on the issue of whether US summers are the problem compared to US winters. The typical answer is that it's the combination - the extreme range of high to low humidity in the typical US indoor environment - that causes the problems. In my experience, older imported pianos have a fair chance of survival if the owners adopt the heating habits of the rest of the world. Specifically, if you put on a sweater in the winter instead of drying out the air by cranking the heating system up to 70 degrees plus, your piano may well survive even without attempting to modify the high humidity. What the piano looks like now is immaterial. Your client's piano will have a better chance of surviving the hostile US indoor climate if the owners keep the thermostat as low as possible in the winter and take serious steps to raise humidity with a room or whole house humidifier. A Dampp-Chaser won't hurt, but it's not enough. caveat emptor. Carl Root, RPT Rockville, MD
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