I tuned a 1942 Knabe console for the first time today. Nice sound, pristine ivory keytops, and a healthy colony of mold growing on the hammers. The owner seemed sure the mold was not present the last time the piano was tuned 2 years ago. The pattern of the mold would suggest that something was spilled or sprayed into the piano, but again the owner denies any possibility of this. The piano was in a room that was fairly chilly but not overly humid (the piano is placed against an outside wall). I'm assuming the default would be to replace the hammers, although the instrument probably isn't worth this. But I thought I would check with the hammer-experts out there to see if any other course of action might be recommended. It's been suggested that cleaning the mold and then applying some sort of chemical mold-retardant (?) might work. Any thoughts? Thanks. Rob Mitchell Piano Service (415) 994-1030 www.mitchellpianoservice.com <http://www.mitchellpianoservice.com/> Registered Piano Technician -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20110222/bb495c96/attachment-0001.htm> -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 0218011302.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 228859 bytes Desc: not available URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20110222/bb495c96/attachment-0001.jpg>
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