This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment Comments interspersed below: Terry Farrell =20 ----- Original Message -----=20 From: "D.L. Bullock" <dlbullock@att.net> To: <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Monday, July 29, 2002 11:35 AM Subject: RE: damp chaser > I seldom if ever suggest a damp chaser. As you know I restore older = pianos. > When I get a piano that has a damp chaser installed and it has been = there > all the life of the piano, I also find many problems directly caused = by the > heat. Though it was worse in Texas where there was low humidity, I = also > find it here in St. Louis as well. The damp chaser is for pianos that = are > in damp basements and the dehumidifier does not work well enough. Yes, a proper installation should provide good benefit in such an = environment, but they are also for any room where the relative humidity = level is not ideal. I have a system on my grand in my living room and it = performs very well indeed. > Granted, the ones I have removed from pianos being restored were the > unswitched model, End of story right there. This is like buying a car, jamming the = accelerator to the floor and complaining that the car is bad because = every time you try and use a car all it ever does is go 120 mph down the = road and crash into a telephone pole. The secret (I never thought this = was a secret) is regulating the system. In a car we have an accelerator = that can be engaged or disengaged. The car also has a brake. The DC rod = should ALWAYS be installed with a humidistat. If you use a humidistat, = you will NOT have a damaged piano. > but I have found the following problems directly caused by > a damp chaser: > All action parts screws loose--flanges shrank. Did you measure the flanges? How do you know they shrank? What was the = original size? What was the shrunk size? I have seen many new and old = pianos with action parts screws loose - with no DC installed. The first = piano repair I ever did was to my own new 1098 - tightening all the = action screws because hammers were drifting out of alignment. Every = screw was loose - no DC. > This caused hammers to hit the wrong strings and the wippens to wear = in > weird ways when they shifted. OK. > Many more cracks in the soundboard than expected. How many cracks were expected? > No crown left in the soundboard. Well, that would certainly be a first. Has anyone else ever seen this = condition? > All the timber's glue joints loose around the firewall of the grand. = (under > the dampers. Hmmmmm.................piano? > Wide cracks in the keybed which I had never seen. Did you look? > I have had spinets with long time damp chasers that I suggested piano > replacement because they were no longer usable pianos and they were = not > worth the money to restore. And your point is? I have had spinets without long time damp chasers = that I suggested piano replacement because they were no longer usable = pianos and they were not worth the money to restore. =20 > Perhaps you could find the same problems in Arizona but they should = not > arise in more humid climes. ???????????????????? >=20 > D.L. Bullock > www.thepianoworld.com > St. Louis >=20 >=20 >=20 ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/0a/37/ca/c1/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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