<html> <head> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; = charset=us-ascii"> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 10 (filtered)"> <style>  </style> </head> <body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple> <div class=Section1>  </fo= nt>   Subject:</= span> Hello all and black mold on piano catches question   Greetings all, My name is Julia and I am a new (as of August '03) associate PTG = member. I attended the University of Western Ontario Piano Technology Program. If anyone has any = questions about such school, will be glad to offer some info. for anyone persuing such = venues. As I consider myself a rookie, I know I will see strange things in the = future business of taking care of pianos. I believe I have come across = something today that seemed like black mold on the catches in a paino at a tuning job. = Do pianos ever get a case of mold? If so what can be done to get rid of = it? Julie       =             =       Julie,       =       First Welcome to the list.       =       Did you mean catchers?  Let us know the make, model , vintage etc and = we can be of more help.       =       That being said ,I’ll guess it’s a mid 70’s = Baldwin vertical with = synthetic “leather” on the catchers and butts. That vintage Baldwin</f= ont> will have a black dusty residue on the action near the = catchers and could be mistaken for  mold .       =       This is not Corfam, a material you will familiarize yourself with soon = enough, but a material Baldwin</f= ont> tried as a substitute for leather before the late = 70’s corfam debacle.       =       My guess could be wrong  of course, but if you are more thorough with = your queries we can collectively help each other out.       =       Tom Driscoll RPT </div> </body> </html>