Fire/smoke damage

[bases-loaded@juno.com]

I agree with Mark.  Whenever possible, I give an "initial" assessment of
the damage, to be followed by a complete assessment 2-3 months later.  In
many cases ALL of the steel parts were coated with surface rust and the
pianos needed restrung and new dampers, for starters.  Some showed no
rust at all, and those pianos needed very little other than cleaning up. 


It's not a convenient method, to be sure, but increases the odds of
addressing the real damage.  Besides, what's a couple months in the life
of a piano?

Mark Potter
bases-loaded@juno.com   

On Sun, 11 Apr 1999 16:37:09 +1000 "Mark Bolsius"
<markbolsius@optusnet.com.au> writes:
>I'd restring and repin it, replace damper felts as a minimum. Most 
>smoke is
>_very_ toxic to high carbon steel wire and tuning pins. Check for 
>other
>signs of excessively high humidity caused by the steam when they put 
>out the
>fire.
>The strings are the biggest concern....and you're right, it'll look 
>just
>fine, but I just about guarantee that at some time in the (near) 
>future the
>strings will be a delightful shade of rust brown.
>
>Mark Bolsius