About 20 years ago some vandals discharged the entire contents of a dry chemical fire extinguisher into a Baldwin Hamilton at the local high school. The staff pushed it into a practice room where it stayed for 18 years. No attempt was made at the time to clean it out. It sat there collecting dust and being banged on by bored students for all those years. Two years ago I decided to see if I could salvage something from this otherwise good instrument. To make a long story........ the keypins had deposits resembling dried plaster of paris, but more difficult to get off. I removed the front and balance rails and spent hours cleaning them. I blew out the key mortises with compressed air....over and over and over.....still there was evidence of dust.....same thing with the action. This stuff had permeated the most difficult of recesses. Today the action centers are a little stiff, but the instrument is playable. After one year of use I pulled some keys and noticed more of the same hard deposits on the keypins. It's as though the stuff is leaching out of the key bushings. I did notice when using a vacuum on this stuff that the dust went right through its filter into the air.....so, I would move it outside to do your cleaning. Tom Robinson East Tennessee
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