I thought that since the piano was built at around 40%, drying it too far beyond that would shrink the wood and risk glue joint failure. I never dry the older pianos in Louisiana past 48%. Question: At what humidity level does metal rust significantly? Lance Lafargue, RPT New Orleans Chapter Covington, LA. lafargue@iamerica.net ---------- > From: Michael Jorgensen <Michael.Jorgensen@cmich.edu> > To: pianotech@ptg.org > Subject: Low Humidity Best? > Date: Thursday, January 08, 1998 3:23 AM > > Hello List, > I am interested in your opinions concerning humidity. In Michigan, > most homes simply can't handle 40 percent as windows drip and rot in > winter. My father, Owen Jorgensen, keeps his Steinways at a constant 25 > percent, using only a dehumidifier in the summer. Every few weeks he > "fine tunes" his dehumidifier by listening to whether the lowest tenor > strings are going flat or sharp with respect to the rest of the piano. > (sharp notes mean dehumidifier must run more). His 21 year old B has no > cracks or compression ridges, is all teflon which never makes noise and > never needs work, and he hasn't tuned the pianos in years, only touching > up once in a while, yet they're in perfect tune all the time. Both are > played alot, the pitch stays right up, the strings are not rusty, and > action parts work beautifully. The A is all original except > hammers/shanks and has many cracks but is 94 years old and likely had > them before any of us were born. I see an awfully lot of "humidity > controlled" pianos kept around 40-50 percent that seem to be falling > apart and rusting away. Comments? > Mike Jorgensen RPT
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