of Piano Keys and.... Milk?

[J Patrick Draine]

The answer is: NO. Don't do it.
It is indeed interesting how a notion like this ("let's see ...
ivories are white, milk is a white liquid; let's splash some on and
rub it off, wow the dirt came off -- HEY I have a faultless procedure
here!!") has such staying power (and is amplified by the web).
Patrick D.

On 6/30/07, kurt baxter <fortefile at gmail.com> wrote:
> So I was poking around a site advising on the cleaning and care of a piano's
> finish,
> and along with the usual "keep out of direct sunlight" and such, they gave
> the advice
> of cleaning piano keys with fresh milk. I thought this must be a typo, so I
> googled it
> and found that indeed, many places are offering this advice.
>
> I've been able to trace this advice as far back as housekeeping advice in
> the 1930's.
>
> Does this seriously seem like a good idea?? First of all, I would think that
> no matter
> how careful you are, some of the milk in going to seep into the wood at the
> edge of
> the keytop, and multiplied by 88, I can imagine some serious odor issues.
>
> Schubert to the smell of sour milk anyone? No?
>
> And besides that disturbing possibility I am left with the fact that I cant
> imagine any
> real cleaning properties of milk over soap and water.
>
>
> Count me baffled.
>
>
>    [k]
>     u
>     r
>     t
>