Pools and Pianos

[Phil Bondi]

..it looks like they don't mix, especially when the pool is inside the
home..

The Victim: a DH Baldwin.

History: This little grand was a joy to tune for 3 years..held up better
than most in my database that get tuned every 6 months. A little over a year
ago, this piano was moved from a very well-controlled environment to a
beautiful home on the water with a pool in the house. In that short amount
of time, the plain wire has ceased to show any of the original metal color
that it once had..it has been replaced by rust..untunable..and the customer
was given fair warning that this may happen..i wish i had a camera with me
to do some show and tell, but I'm sure this group can appreciate what it
looks like.

The plain wire is gone..but there are no 'brown' spots on the wound wire..I
find this somewhat puzzling..if rust were to be that prevelant on the plain
wire, shouldn't I see rust on the wound wire as well?..and wouldn't it show
up as 'brown' spots on the wound wire?

I have let them borrow my Hygrometer for a period of 2 weeks..we are testing
another room in the home where they can put the new piano..away from the
pool and back to controlling the environment the way it was controlled at
their old home..this home has 2-zone air, and the room in question has its
own zone, so if the air is on in this room, it won't be on in the main part
of the house where the pool is.

They are now convinced that a Dampp-Chaser AND a String Cover are madatory
for their environment..the only question is...whether they will purchase a
lesser-grade piano first and test it for a 2-year period before buying what
they really want...and that is a S&S L.

It is my opinion, that if the Humidity levels check out ok, or what is
considered normal for this area, they should go ahead and get the L along
with the DC and the String Cover.

opinions?

Rook