That's Great Fred, I wouldn't have thought of that. I had an experience with a Hamilton upright action 60's vintage, which had gotten sluggish. As i remember, the music director of the church was antsy to have the action back. She hounded me to get it back and take some shortcuts if necessary. I went after the action with a hair dryer, and hgot it too dry. Fortunately, I didn't ruin any flange bushings, but I still had to tighten flange screws, and reglue some loose jacks. I wanted to let it dry naturally, after doing the 8/1 alcohol/water treatment, which worked for freeing up the sluggish flanges. Ron Poire ----- Original Message ----- From: "Fred Sturm" <fssturm at unm.edu> To: "College and University Technicians" <caut at ptg.org> Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2008 8:38 AM Subject: Re: [CAUT] Tornado Damage at Union University > So sorry to hear about all of the destruction, loss of life, and > injuries. > About the pianos, I would advise doing something to protect them from the > drying process. Typically there will be heat and fans running, and they > will do considerable damage to wooden parts. I'd try to wrap the pianos > in plastic before that happens. Better to have a couple day's high > humidity locked in than expose to a week or more of the drying, I think. > I had a pipe burst flood in my wife's piano studio, and the strength of > the fans that were brought in was astounding. I had taped plastic > sheeting over the piano, and it came out unharmed. > Regards, > Fred Sturm > University of New Mexico > fssturm at unm.edu > > > > On Feb 7, 2008, at 5:28 AM, Scott E. Thile wrote: > >> Wow, that's terrible news, Bob! >> >> But I'm very glad to hear you and your family, as well as all the >> students, >> faculty, and staff at Union are OK. I was thinking about your situation >> when >> we got the news about Union being hit. It's hard to imagine what that >> must >> have been like to walk through that mess yesterday. I hope and pray >> you're >> able to get things back in service as soon as possible, but it sounds >> like >> it will be a while before Union is up and running again. >> >> One thing that could cause severe damage to the pianos is having the >> very >> high humidity raise the moisture content in the wood yesterday, and then >> having it freeze over night. I've worked on older pianos that went >> through >> freeze/thaw cycles like that, and in some cases the wood is extremely >> brittle. >> >> We were hit by the same storm systems here, but had no damage to speak >> of. >> It sure was a crazy evening though. Our thoughts and prayers are with >> all >> those in the path of these storms that lost family and property. >> >> Scott >> >> Scott E. Thile, RPT >> Piano/Instrument Technician >> --------------------------- >> Dept. of Music, Murray State University >> 504 Fine Arts Building, Murray, KY 42071 >> Office Phone: 270-809-4396 >> http://campus.murraystate.edu/staff/scott.thile/index.html >> >>> -----Original Message----- >>> From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On >>> Behalf Of Bob Hull >>> Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2008 12:12 AM >>> To: College and University Technicians >>> Subject: [CAUT] Tornado Damage at Union University >>> >>> >>> Dear College and Univ. Techs: >>> >>> On Tuesday night, Jackson, TN was hit hard by a >>> tornado(s) with some of the most severe damage >>> occurring at the school I service, Union University. >>> Most of the dorms are destroyed. No students lost >>> their lives and most injuries were minor. Perhaps as >>> much as $20 million worth of damage was sustained >>> according to the Univ. president. >>> You may have seen some of the footage on national >>> television. >>> >>> Part of the roof of the three-story music building was >>> torn off and water flooded down to the first floor >>> where the pianos were. During the ordeal, I was away >>> in Oklahoma taking care of a parent who has suffered a >>> broken hip. As I came back into town today, I went by >>> the school to see if I could help with any thing. One >>> of the profs gave me a tour of the dark and wet >>> building. Our two Hamburg D's were in the recital >>> hall which flooded (not deeply). They had rolled them >>> out into the hallway which was not as "wet". - I think >>> just the carpet is wet in the hall. Both were >>> covered at the time of the tornado and water flooding. >>> One cover was wet when they came to look at it this >>> morning. The humidity in the bldg. was extremely high >>> and they were going to have someone tomorrow working >>> on that because they are afraid mold will begin to >>> form. Tonight the temp. will drop to 30 F and there >>> is no heat of course in the building. I'll have to >>> look around more tomorrow. I couldn't see anything >>> without a flashlight. >>> I had just begun my round of tunings for the new >>> semester. >>> >>> Any suggestions will be appreciated for evaluating and >>> advising the music department. I don't think that any >>> were directly rained on - they may have just gotten >>> very damp. I'll find out more later. The main thing >>> is that these students and their families were blessed >>> that no one was killed by the storm as severe as it >>> was. >>> >>> Hundreds of student and faculty cars were destroyed. >>> >>> Gratefully, >>> Bob Hull >>> >>> P.S. My family, home and shop which are about 5 miles >>> away were untouched. In the shop are three nice >>> family heirloom grands of customers - two just about >>> to be restrung and one to be refinished. But as long >>> as my family was protected, the other things don't >>> really matter. >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> ______________________________________________________________ >>> ______________________ >>> Looking for last minute shopping deals? >>> Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. >>> http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category= >> shopping >> >> >
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