> Opened a ten year old Belarus upright piano and found three cloth bags > of silica gel hanging from the lid hinges resting on the felt silencer > bar against the tuning pins. Later found three more "pillows" in the > bottom of the piano. They had been there since the piano was new. When > I mentioned to the owner of the uselessness of these old bags, she > stressed that the last two tuners of the piano told her they were still > beneficial and had been keeping it in tune all these years. I dutifully > replaced them in their original places after the tuning and left. Am I > nuts? (Be nice) Yes, and no. You mentioned the uselessness of the bags, so you're covered in the real world. Congratulations, you're already ahead of the pack (as it were). Replacing them was purely political, so you're honest, diplomatic, and (yes, utterly) nuts, but kind and considerate. I'm not sure what that boils down to, but you did no harm and didn't lie to the owner, which scores as a net gain. >We used to throw these away at the dealer at prep > time. Have times changed? Times certainly have, but physics still hasn't, for most folks. See "reality". >Are ten year old silica gel sacks still viable? Viable? Describe what they are supposed to do in the first place lying in the bottom of the piano, given the physical characteristics and limitations of the material, and we'll see. Ok, the real stuff. Yes, ten year old silica gel packs are still viable. No, they won't do any good whatsoever lying in the bottom of a piano that's not wrapped in an air tight enclosure. They also won't do any good as a desiccant in a giant baggie unless the moisture has been cooked out of them before entombment. In the open air, they have similar humidity control potential of a generic sweat sock. Can they harm a piano, other than falling into the action? No, but like two inches of gravel in the bottom of the piano, they will do no good either. Realistically, there's probably not much of anything positive you can do with a bag of anything, including tools and parts, for a Belarus upright. Ron N
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