Moth'd ...YUK! (was: "I got lucky")

Michael Gamble michael@gambles.fsnet.co.uk
Thu, 22 Jan 2004 17:23:22 -0000


Hello Ray
You said:  "BTW, could someone have referred to a moth-eaten piano?"
Guilty!! I had a most amazingly moth'd upright to deal with over the last
couple of days. When I took the covers off.... it was   h o r r i b l e.
The hammer felts were pitted the hammer-rest felt down to the woof&weft, the
check felts grotty and nibbled, the damper felts grotty likewise, the
Butt-cushions totally absent without trace (clickety click!) even the
Butt-pads under the Butt-notch leather was..... Gone! So the piano plays
somewhat sponge-ily. Many action parts wobbly due to Mr.Moth getting his
teeth into the Flange bushings. When I removed the nameboard - the felt
was.... Gone. Totally. So I decided to remove the keys. All the key-bushings
... Gone. The touch felt ...nearly Gone -  Mr.Moth had left a few traces.
Front rail washers... almost totally eaten down to the woof&weft.
Oddly enough the Balance rail washers were intact...!
The piano is to be used on Sunday....
Cleaned, vacuumed, touch felt and front punchings replaced. Guillotined 88
new Butt cushions and stuck them in without dismantling the action. (Keep
the Jack out of the way with the business end of a Papps wedge between the
set-off button and the jack toe) Use a long tweezer to insert the already
glued new pad and press it "home" with something else before releasing the
tweezer. What a mess. Had to leave the Butt-notch pads and the wobbly action
parts. It works!  So now OK for Sunday.
Only one prob remains. It would appear that Mr.Moth is an endangered
species. You can't get PDB - so the Preservation of Wool Moth Movement seems
very active here. :-)
Regards from
Moth-eaten Darkest Moth Dross't Sussex
Michael G (UK)



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