<HTML><BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff">I guess you never see it all in this = business.   I arrived at the client's mansion this afternoon only to find the 3 year= old M and H A in  sorry shape.  The last tuner that touched it wa= s me, and that wasn't for a tuning, that was doing a gig at their wine-swill= ing Christmas party. Tale of the tape:  20-30 cents flat, dust everywhere inside, foreig= n substance that looks much like coke on many of the bass strings.   I didn't have time to do anything but pitch raise it and tune it to 440,= all the while muttering about what a waste it is to have a piano of this ca= liber in such a state of neglect. Before I left, I had the nanny fetch the lady of the house.  When s= he arrived, I very politely informed her that the piano really needed to be = better maintained if they wanted it to sound, feel and look good for the lon= g term.  I asked her about the spillage on the strings. She responded, "I wonder if that's from when the squirrel got into the p= iano." "Inside the piano????"  I asked. "Yes, my daughter came to me one day and told me 'mommy, mommy, there's = a squirrel playing the piano.' "   So the substance on the strings is undoubtedly squirrel urine.  Thu= mp, should I trash this piano?  Just teasin' ya.  Seriously, I'll = be going back out on Monday to clean the thing up and do some regulation. &n= bsp;I'm wondering if the affected strings are goners. Thanks for reading, Dave Stahl</HTML>