Cleaning keys again

[David Love]

Wouldn't a power wash be easier.  Plus you could prepare your house for
painting at the same time.

David Love

----- Original message ---------------------------------------->
From: gordon stelter <lclgcnp@yahoo.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Received: Tue, 13 Aug 2002 16:24:21 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: Cleaning keys again

>    Thanks for asking!
>    I'm very tired now and may not relate this
>well............but it all started when I brought home
>a GORGEOUS 1885 Rosewood Weber.... that a rat had died
>in!
>     After nearly dying myself ( I had put it,
>uninspected, right next to my bed!!!) I started
>wondering how to sanitize such messes.
>    The Weber was toast....no hope there... but I
>experimented with it, and this is what I developed:
>1) Have an OUTDOOR area to dismantle pianos, FAR away
>from your shop! Covered. A portable car-port is great,
>and an old aluminum bakery "box van" works better, as
>you can later drive it to the car wash and hose it
>out.( Sending old pencils, paperclips, etc. into the
>sump. ) If you have neither, get several slabs of
>rigid foam insulation and tarps to cover the piano at
>night, if you can't dismantle it in one day. Do not
>use woven plastic tarps with grommets alone, as they
>are not completely waterproof. Put a thick plastic
>drop cloth underneath, then the foam, then the woven
>tarp held down with weights or bungees.
>2)Dismantle the piano and blast everything out
>thoroughly with compressed air, when the wind is NOT
>blowing towards your neighbor's pie safe, new paint or
>clothesline!
>3)Remove your sample hammers, other hammers ( if you
>will use new butts) and the hammer and spring rail.
>4)Go get a gallon of "Super-Clean" from an auto parts
>store, ( auto paint stores sell an equivalent, far
>cheaper. I get mine $3/gallon!)
>5)Hook an industrial grade rubber hose up to the drain
>cock on your water heater, and run it out to the
>driveway, or somewhere you don't mind the runoff
>contaminating ( they claim this stuff's
>"biodegradable" but I wouldn't want it in my garden!)
>6) Set the action on the driveway or somewhere your
>neighbors will not scream about, spray the Super Clean
>all over it with either a hand-held squirt bottle, or
>an insecticide pump-type dispenser. Let it soak in
>about 15 minutes, then HOSE DOWN THE ACTION!!!!!!!
> ( frame and wippens ) with hot water.  An abominable,
>reeking, meftic brown ooze will slobber all over the
>place, the color of old motor oil, along with the
>action felts ( as you blast them away ). Keep blasting
>until the suds die down, repeat if necessary.
>8) Dismantle the action, and place the pieces on an
>aluminum screen in the sun, or in a breezy place ( I
>use window fans) flipping them regularly.
>     I suppose you could dismantle the action first,
>dunk the pieces in super clean, rinse and dry, but I
>prefer the convenience of an assembled action, which
>allows aiming the water jet directly at stubborn
>felts, etc..
>     But you don't want to let it dry assembled, as
>the flange screws will leave iron stains on the action
>parts, and rust in the wood. ( though the tops will be
>clean and very shiny! )
>     Once the wippens have dried, you will have VERY
>clean parts which almost look brand new!!! Ready for
>refelting! This is especially handy for player pianos,
>and others with unavailable parts. Or just to save
>money. Remember, that the wood used in actions was
>chosen for hygrometric stability and, I have found,
>will not warp if dried correctly. One or two flanges
>may separate if machined from a glued up lumber, but
>that's no big deal. Just reglue them. ( Clothesins
>make good clamps for this ) I have also found that
>this process frees gummy center pins BEAUTIFULLY---
>just right, in fact, for all but concert work!( Once
>they are lubricated during reassembly with Protek ).
>     At this point I am  sure that many of you are
>laughing hysterically at what an idiot I am. To which
>I humbly reply  SHUT UP AND TRY IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>Take a filthy, junk action, and try it yourself!  YOU
>WILL LAUGH NO MORE!!!  No more days spent scraping off
>old felts while breathing stinking, disease bearing
>filth!!! No more guilt from placing filthy actions in
>the homes of hygienic, unsuspecting customers ( who
>would scream if they ever looked inside Grandma's old
>"restored" upright! )No more guilt from very possibly
>giving their 5 year old daughter some nasty
>( usually respiratory ) disease as she is forced to
>practice on it! Think about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>     Back to the case.
>     I don't try to mic wires in the piano. I take a
>sample from each unison, lay it between 2 strips of
>duct tape and mic them all at once.
>     Once the plate is out, I strip the case, have
>masked over the tuning pin holes. Old uprights usually
>use shellac on the soundbaord, which washes right off
>lacquer thinner, blasted from a spray gun. I don't use
>straight alcohol as it can weaken hide glue joints.
>Don't forget the back. The crap on the back ( old
>uprights ) can take a day to remove by this method,
>with 3 gallons of lacquer thinner, using a bottle
>brush to scrub between the posts and board, etc.. What
>collects at the bottom of the posts can periodically
>be dumped out by tipping the piano on its back. I get
>a mountain of those big cardboard boxes furniture
>stores throw away for it all this to slop onto, with a
>big plastic tarp underneath. The boxes then can be
>left in the sun to evaporate off the thinner, and
>discarded or burned.
>     Keybeds are especialy nasty, and I generally use
>superclean, scrub and hose on them, drying rapidly
>with rags and breeze. Not in sun! And never use
>chlorine bleach inside a piano, as it will make things
>rust---forever. I have thought of oxalic acid for
>keybeds ( & keys? ), but not tried yet. Anyway,
>several coats of paint ( epoxy's best) on keybed will
>hold in any residual stench-----unless there has been
>pervasive rodent habitaton, in which case NOTHING but
>a gallon of kerosene and a match will cure it ( after,
>of course, removing the keys and knocking out the
>leads which can be dumped in the used wheel weight bin
>at your local tire store ).
>     The keyframe can similarly be scrubbed with Super
>Clean and a little brass detailiung brush, hosed and
>hung up to dry. Remaining odor held in with spray
>paint, after putting soda straws on the keypins. Here
>again, presence of paint should actually help keep
>action in regulation.
>     Disclaimer: Wear serious protective gear
>throughout this process, including rubber boots.
>SuperClean will burn a hole through your skin if
>allowed to set. A mist of it in your eyes will give
>you a torrid headache! I go "Full Bug" --- knit hat,
>raincoat with hood, gas mask, face shield (AND
>goggles), elbow length serious chemical protectant
>gloves ( I like heavy nitrile from auto paint store ),
>rubber pants and boots. All dressd up like this, its
>almost fun to do battle with the "dragon"! Amazes your
>neighbors, too! ( Who will probably call the FBI in
>our current social climate! )
>     I'm sure I've forgotten some stuff, and will
>remember it later. But that's the gist of it. Now I
>think I will go to sleep while the berateful, hateful
>mountains of ridicule pile in.  Superclean. Rinse. Dry
>quickly. Paint where necessary.
>P.S. For my next installment, I may describe how I
>re-crowned the board on a 1922 Krakauer 50" upright,
>which now sounds better than a Steinway. No kidding.
>     Love and Kisses
>     Dr.Thump
>     AKA Gordon Lee Stelter


>Stéphane_Collin <collin.s@skynet.be> wrote:
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "gordon stelter" <lclgcnp@yahoo.com>
>> To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
>> Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2002 10:36 PM
>> Subject: Re: Cleaning keys again
>>
>>
>> |      I have developed a whole system for
>> sanitizing
>> | pianos and REALLY returning them to "like new" ,
>> which
>> | I will share when I have time.
>>
>> Please, do.  This will be much appreciated.
>>
>> Stéphane Collin.
>>


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