[pianotech] mold!

[Susan Kline]

Nowhere near as bad as the one in Scotland.

Conovers are fun pianos, not to be idly thrown away. No one is making 
any more pianos
like this one.

Have you thought of blasting with walnut shells? Or beadblasting? I'd 
take the parts off first,
to get good access to every side, and because the beads can wedge 
EVERYWHERE when the whole
action is blasted. (Don't ask me how I know ... probably still a lot of 
beads in there.)

Susan Kline

Noah Frere wrote:
> I picked up an old Conover upright, about 100 years old give or take, 
> a couple years ago. Yes it was in the rain before I picked it up. Yes 
> I should have prepped it and sold it long before now. Yes, while I was 
> gone all summer my shop (basement) grew millions of mold spores and 
> covered the inside and outside of the piano. Yes I should probably 
> throw it in the dump.
>
> However, I don't really want to. Here are some pictures showing what 
> the mold looked like, before I cleaned most of it off with a vacuum 
> (on the inside) and air compressor for the action (which does a little 
> only). I sprayed the soundboard, back posts and ribs with white 
> distilled vinegar and then scrubbed it with vinegar/baking soda (as i 
> did with the floor joists comprising the basement ceiling), and wiped 
> it down. That part looks pretty good now. The pictures show the parts 
> I missed. Some of what you see is also just dust/dirt.
>
> I don't really want to brush off every little piece of wood and 
> whippen with a toothbrush and vinegar or soaply water, etc., but I 
> think I need to be really thorough here. I have now see the power of 
> mold as a reproducing organism, and it is not to be trifled with. I 
> read the short article in the Journal about mold and pianos (thank you 
> PTG Journal dvd, you are amazing), which wasn't really thorough 
> enough. So my thought is buy, or build a sandblasting cabinet and 
> blast the whippens and keys, etc. I have not read the sand-blasting 
> articles yet in the Journal from the 80's or 90's I guess, though I 
> have found them and plan to read them soon.
>
> SO, my question is, is everyone in agreement I should junk the piano? 
> The mold was quite bad. Will sandblasting work? I know it's not a 
> monetarily wise investment at this point, but I feel responsible for it.
>
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