<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<STYLE type=text/css>DIV {
        MARGIN: 0px
}
</STYLE>
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2873" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#d8d0c8>
<DIV><FONT size=2>One of the effects of today's central air conditioning is the
requirement for the air to be completely exchanged in each room several times a
day. This exacerbates the effect of low humidity if not otherwise
controlled. In addition, it's usually shut off at night and
weekends. The CAUT Guidelines detail these effects on page 17 (the link is
under the picture, "Guidelines for Effective Institutional Piano
Maintenance"):</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2><A
href="http://www.ptg.org/caut.php/guidlines_pg.htm">http://www.ptg.org/caut.php/guidlines_pg.htm</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Churches are a good candidate for Dampp-Chasers (note the two
"p"s; important if you want to find their website, <A
href="http://www.dampp-chaser.com">www.dampp-chaser.com</A>. What's the
history behind that, anyway: a previous trademark?). Churches typically
turn on the heat only on Wednesday and Sunday, throwing the piano through
seasonal changes twice a week that happen in customers' homes only twice a
year. And they're often better at keeping water in them than schools (I
was going to say "religious about maintenance", but changed my
mind).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Since I'm moving back to Albuquerque, New Mexico in June, I'm
very interested in this topic. It seems that new pianos in customers'
homes probably won't need humidity control, since they're already seasoned for
this climate (caveats for gray market pianos, etc.). But I would certainly
be concerned about someone moving a ten-year-old piano from, say, Seattle to the
southwest. After acclimating to high humidity, it might fall apart with a
quick change to 15% RH, no?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>I also wonder if a new or old piano might not have less tone
and sustain at 15% RH instead of 50% RH, because of less stiffness in the
soundboard assembly?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>--Cy--</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2><STRONG>shuster</STRONG>piano.com</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=rsanbornmorgan@yahoo.com
href="mailto:rsanbornmorgan@yahoo.com">Richard Morgan</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, April 27, 2006 9:44
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Damp-Chaser in Texas</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: times new roman, new york, times, serif">
<DIV>Do you Texas techs sell or encourage the use of Damp-Chasers? One
of my mentors feels that in today's central air-conditioned buildings it is no
longer necessary. I've tuned for several churches, though, and wonder if
a Damp-Chaser might be advisable in that context.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Thanks,</DIV>
<DIV>Richard Morgan</DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>