That's mice

[Phil Ryan]

I wonder if that soft flexible fiberglass screening in the back and 
perhaps underneath the piano would hinder or dampen the piano sound if 
that might be a problem with the owner? Anyone got an opinion?

Phil Ryan


Elwood Doss wrote:

> Sneak a couple of boxes of D-Con in the pedal trap. What she doesn’t 
> know, won’t hurt her! Either that or suggest she get some cats to live 
> in the house so the mice can enter the food chain, rather than being 
> on the top of it! Ooooorrrrrr, tell her not to call you back. Unless 
> you really clean up the piano—especially the mouse nesting material 
> and feces, you are going to be continually in danger. I can imagine 
> what’s under the keys. Do they seem springy or mushy? On the other 
> hand if the mice keep eating the bridle tapes then they will also be 
> destroying the key felts, hammers, dampers, even the wood on the keys. 
> Keep you in a job until you die of some disease spread by mice.
>
> By the way, I’ve never tried the screen idea, but if you could 
> identify all the holes the mice can get through—and they can be pretty 
> small—you might be able to keep them out.
>
> One last thing, I’m a member of PETA (People Eating Tasty Animals)–but 
> not mice!
>
> Joy!
>
> Elwood
>
> Elwood Doss, Jr. M.M.E.; RPT
>
> Piano Technician/Technical Director
>
> Department of Music
>
> 145 Fine Arts Building
>
> The University of Tennessee at Martin
>
> Martin, TN 38238
>
> 731/881-1852
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> *From:* Piannaman@aol.com [mailto:Piannaman@aol.com]
> *Sent:* Wednesday, March 16, 2005 12:55 AM
> *To:* pianotech@ptg.org
> *Subject:* That's mice
>
> Hi y'all,
>
> I had a job a couple of weeks ago replacing bridle tapes in a 15 year 
> old Kawai upright. The old ones had been used as nest material by a 
> family of mice. About half of them were completely gone, and others 
> partially gnawed. I went back yesterday to tune the piano.
>
> The people had said that they'd found the mice and removed them, but 
> guess who'd come back, munching once again on the tapes...
>
> Nice, nice lady... but hygiene is not her forte, I fear. Her bird's 
> food is also the nourishment for aforementioned rodents. She loves 
> animals and doesn't want to poison the mice. I suggested a "humane" 
> exterminator.
>
> Has anyone ever used any kind of screening inside an upright to to 
> keep mice out? I suspect that no matter what the people do--unless 
> they do a drastic cleanup, which seems kind of unlikely--the mice will 
> continue to come back. Next time, I'll wear a mask! After hearing 
> about Hantavirus on this list, I'm a little worried about this sort of 
> thing.
>
> Dave Stahl
>