Mystery dust (was baking soda)

[Maxpiano@aol.com]

In a message dated 9/6/98 2:04:35 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
harvey@greenwood.net writes:

<< Over time, I've seen many pianos containing mystery dust.  >>

Jim,

While you were gone in California, some South Carolinian got a brainstorn.  I
don't know if the old Gentleman (now deceased) from the Upstate, who first
introduced me to the practice, was the inventor.  I won't mention names for
obvious reasons (you would recognize the respectable family name).  Take
arsenate of lead powder and mix it with paris green (also an arsenic compound)
and apply it under the keys and around the pedal area.  It will not only kill
moths but when mice run through it, it will make them thirsty and they will
run out of the piano looking for water before they expire.  Saves on smells.

Arsenate of lead has been off the market for about 3 decades for obvious
reasons.  When I was a child it was a popular garden insecticide (read:
poison).  The reason for mixing paris green with it was that most people in
the 1930s and 1940s would have recognized the compound, and no serious piano
technician would give away his secrets.  Paris green turned the mixture off-
white, not easily identified.  Which of course to our thinking is just the
wrong idea.  Whenever children are watching me work and I find an unidentified
powder, I warn them and the parents.

With any chemical compound, nonpoisonous included, I am always concerned over
the possibility of introducing electrolytic action which might lead to rust or
corrosion.

Bill Maxim