[pianotech] Smoke Damage Appraisal

[Greg Newell]

Diane and Greg,

                While this post / reply sounds very authoritative and all, I
can tell you from personal experience that it may not always be the case. I
own and am currently enjoying a Bosendorfer grand that had been through a
house fire (husband decided to learn candle making). It was completely
covered in soot inside and out and there are small areas where the poly and
substrate popped off at the top of the leg, etc. I bought and cleaned the
piano as best I could and have been using it daily for more than 6 years
now.  I also rent it out for special occasions and transport it myself. I
have never had a string break or any other signs of things being “eaten”.
Your experience may vary but I don’t see the need for the extreme hype
regarding this common problem. I’ve cleaned pianos for clients who’ve had a
fire and they don’t seem to have any problems either, yet.  

 

Greg Newell

Greg's Piano Forté

www.gregspianoforte.com

216-226-3791 (office)

216-470-8634 (mobile)

 

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of wimblees at aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, May 05, 2009 4:37 AM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Smoke Damage Appraisal

 

Diane

Smoke residue on the strings does not always have an immediate effect. It
might take three or four years for the acid from the smoke to "eat" through
the metal. As I said before, the problem is not on the speaking length of
the string. The problems are at the termination points. If you don't
restring the piano now, strings will break later, long after the insurance
is no  longer covering the expense. 

Wim

-----Original Message-----
From: Diane Hofstetter <dianepianotuner at msn.com>
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Sent: Mon, 4 May 2009 7:16 pm
Subject: [pianotech] Smoke Damage Appraisal

 
Greg,
 
I am in the process of cleaning the  most severely smoke damaged piano that
I 
have ever had to work on.  It is a Yamaha GH1.  The piano body and case have

been thoroughly cleaned by one of the shop guys and have been  sitting in a
room 
with an ozone generator for two weeks now, but still smell of smoke. I think
it 
may be because there is smoke residue all over the floor from the cleaning 
process.  Tomorrow we are going to work on it together.
 
The boss doesn't want to restring the piano.  It will be the first
smoke-damaged 
piano that I haven't restrung.  It will be interesting to see when I try to
tune 
it, 1. whether strings will break and 2. How it sounds.  The boss may have
no 
choice.
 
Meanwhile I have bead blasted the action and keys and have shaped the
hammers.  
I have used TSP on the keyframe, and have set the action outside in the
sunlight 
and fresh air for about 5 hours total (two times).  The action smells just
great 
now without changing any of the parts.
 
Be sure when you give the church an estimate to plan on at least double your

usual cleaning charge.
 
Diane
 
 
[pianotech] Smoke Damage Appraisalwimblees at aol.com wimblees at aol.com 
 
 
 
GregIt all depends on the pianos. On an upright, if the fall board?was
closed, 
then most likely the only thing that needs to be done is for the case to be 
thoroughly cleaned. If the fall board was open, you will also?have to clean
the 
keys, or maybe get new tops put on. Grand pianos, however are much 
different.?Smoke probably got inside, even with?the lid?down. Smoke is very 
caustic, especially on felts and strings. You can clean the strings, but
that is 
not where the problem lies. It's at the pressure points, like the bridge 
pins,?V-bar, at the tuning pins, etc., where the smoke causes problems.
Which 
means the strings have to be replaced, along with the felts. You will also
need 
to look closely at the action. If you see smoke damage on the hammers, it
means 
all the felts have been "infected" with smoke. Which means all the action
parts 
will need to be replaced. Hope this helps. Willem (Wim) Blees, RPTPiano 
Tuner/TechnicianMililani, Oahu, HI808-349-2943Author of: The Business of
Piano 
Tuningavailable from Potter Presswww.pianotuning.comDiane Hofstetter

 

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