moth damage

[Annie Grieshop]

In a previous life, I raised corn borer moths for an R&D seed company.  It
was very interesting work, actually, and once I get moved into my new place,
I might just raise some piano-eating critters to test non-toxic
extermination methods.

I also worked on a pine-bark beetle eradication crew in the  Rockies, and
several folks ended up in the hospital from the chemicals, so I'd prefer to
find better approaches.  Tenting and fumigating is a nasty business......

Annie Grieshop

> -----Original Message-----
> From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org]On
> Behalf Of Farrell
> Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2007 1:11 PM
> To: Pianotech List
> Subject: Re: moth damage
>
>
> 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
>
>
>