Seems like a string cover would be useful. The space blanket idea is effective but a little unsightly. What would be ideal would be a fabric cover, thin (like Dampp-chaser undercover), that was printed with a design of plate struts and strings, and reflective (like those shades for car windows). Attach with magnets. A couple sizes, that could be folded a bit to meet intermediate sizes of pianos. Good for stage lights, and breezes (from heating and cooling systems) in recording studios, as well as outside locations. Though it wouldn't eliminate the humidity effect, it would slow it some. The speed with which pitch changes is connected to the movement of the air over the board, which accelerates the transfer of moisture to or from the wood (stagnate air means slower transfer). A good, inexpensive source for magnets I found recently is kjmagnetics.com. Regards, Fred Sturm University of New Mexico fssturm at unm.edu On Jun 18, 2009, at 2:05 PM, Jeff Stickney wrote: > At the recent California convention, Darrell Fandrich suggested the > possibility of putting a space blanket over the strings - possibly > holding it in place with magnets? He did an experiment putting a > space blanket over the strings and blowing a hair dryer on it - no > affect on the unisons. Pulled the blanket away and they started go > almost immediately. This would help if the problem is temperature - > as in direct sunlight. If humidity is on the rise, I'm not sure > that would do much for the situation. At least it would help in > some of those outdoor situations.
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