<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD><TITLE>How vermin benefit mankind</TITLE> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <STYLE>  </STYLE> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16525" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY> <DIV>Why, Alan, you seem to have stumbled upon the pianistic cousins of the dermestid beetle, beloved helpers of taxidermists and forensic folk.  It might have been a team effort, however, if both the cloth and the glue were gone.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Annie Grieshop</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> -----Original Message----- From: Alan Barnard [mailto:pianotuner@embarqmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 11:16 PM To: pianotech@ptg.org Subject: How vermin benefit mankind </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid">Case file: Customer calls with a 1920s Gulbransen upright which was, until undergoing a major tubes-and-bellows-ectomy, a player, but now coaches in the minor leagues. It lives at a resort where it was stored, unplayed by humans, for 10 years on a screened porch. "It still sounds great," says the owner, "but the tuning might need touching up." (Yes, think I, and the Titanic might need a new paint job, too.) Inspection: Actually not too bad. 60 cents flat, or so. Bass a little tubby. Tuner also a little tubby, but that's another story. Some mouse damage and a giant mouse nest under the bass keys. Worst physical problem: Keys rattle and wobble like crazy at the front rail. I put them in Spurlock racks and take them to Ye Olde Shoppe for rebushing without even bothering to  look at the undersides of the keys. UFO Sightings and Other Weird Stuff: I turn the keys over on the bench, ready to soak, steam, yuck and pluck the old felt out. Ain't none. Gone. 99.9  percent gone; clean, no damage to the wood, mortises look like they were just cut. Only two teeeensy vestiges of red felt left to give evidence that they keys had ever been felted. Nice surprise to find 1/2 the job done! Mystery: Who et 'em? Roaches? Moths? Tiny aliens? Mice would have torn up the wood and couldn't have got up into the mortises so effectively, methinks. Reason for Wondering: I want to find the perps who did this. I want to domesticate them. I want to train them to do this work on demand; their craftsmanship or, should I say, craftsverminship is excellent. I want to rent them out, as a team, to you other techs for big bucks. Ohandbytheway: After reinstalling the keys, easing and squeezing, removing about three bucketsful of lost motion, etc., the piano really is, as I was told, not to durned bad. It has a big, rich sound, is very musical, and plays well. Whaddayaknow! Alan Barnard Salem, MO </BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>