toothpaste ???

[Susan Kline]

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At 12:53 PM 7/3/2005 -0500, you wrote:
>I heard somewhere that using a small amount of toothpaste on a rag could 
>be used to polish pianos?


Hello, Brian

I show customers how to clean ivory with a small dab of toothpaste on a
barely damp rag, followed up by a plain barely damp rag. Works very well
for that waxy dingy buildup on some plastic keys, but equally good for ivory.
Some sharps bleed black dye onto the rag, though.

I have had a customer who rubbed down a very dirty old rosewood upright
with the finest grade of automotive rubbing compound, followed by furniture
wax, and the results were stunning.

For very rough and dirty and crazed old finishes, I sometimes
wet some 0000 steel wool with Old English, wipe it on a small place at a
time, then scrub with it (more gently if the finish isn't too bad),
followed by wiping it off and waxing. The color improves, the roughness
smooths out, scratches usually disappear, and with care those paint flecks
which these pianos so often seem to have, lift off before the varnish does.
White rings darken, but usually leave bare wood if they weren't superficial.

Really cheap finishes get big "mud" buildups where hands rest, like the
cheeks and keyslip, and if you scrub those with steel wool and polish,
the whole finish disappears. The "mud" seems to be incorporated into the
cheap finish.

I haven't used toothpaste on the varnish, but on a damp rag it might work.
It's just a mild and nontoxic abrasive, complete with a pleasant mint aroma.
If used on a dry rag, I would think it would just make a smeary mess. Too
damp and you might leave white marks. I prefer oily stuff like furniture
polish or Old English on varnish, though polyester or lacquered finishes on
grands I often wipe down with a barely damp rag. Pianos in institutions are
often filthy dirty, and the people using them really like having them
cleaned up.

Susan

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