moth damage

[Farrell]

Annie - you must have been in my Forest Entomology class. Not many folks 
know their "frass" from their a$$!

Another thought, if there is any question whether anyone is still alive in 
the piano, would be to take the piano to an exterminator who treats 
furniture for termites. Make sure it is some sort of general insecticide 
that they use, and just leave the piano in their treatment room for the 
weekend. That way at least there will be no question.

Another thing the owner might want to do is bring the piano in from the back 
porch........   ;-)

Terry Farrell

----- Original Message -----
> Moth eggs are not black.  You're likely seeing "frass" (larval excrement),
> which is very small, like ground pepper.  By the time you see frass, the
> larvae have already done their damage and probably flown away as adults.
>
> Annie Grieshop
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> Often you see in old pianos cankered felts and a lot of very small black
>> globules on the damaged felt. That´s done by moths, that´s clear.
>> But how do
>> you deal with that problem? When it´s an old piano and a compete
>> rebuilding
>> should be done, just replace the felts and it´s okay. But
>> yesterday I tuned
>> an 8 years old Fiebiger upright and some felts were damaged. No
>> problem to
>> fix the symptoms, but how to prevent further damage? My idea was to blow
>> away the black globules with a compressor. Then I asked myself what these
>> globules might be: moth shit or moth eggs? If it were eggs it
>> might be bad
>> to blow them under other action felts where they could continue
>> to damage.
>> Another topic: should I do that in my workshop where other pianos
>> could be
>> damaged????? If it were only moth excrement it should be okay to
>> clean the
>> action with a compressor.
>>
>> How to make shure that no new damage will be done? Kill the unborn moth
>> before they eclose out of the eggs? And how to do that?
>>
>> Gregor