[pianotech] Cleaning very old plate

[Joseph Garrett]

Douglas said:
"As I recommended last week and several times before, use Dow Scrubbing
Bubbles bathroom cleaner in the green aerosol can. I can't tell you
how well this works. You have to see it. I had an old Chickering
grand that was given to me. I did not even want to take it. Finally,
they paid me to take it away. I was planning on taking it directly to
the dump. It had cat vomit, mouse droppings, a layer of cat fur like
felt on the soundboard. A cat had lived it it. I used to do
postmortems on animals dead in the sun for a day or two. I have a high
tolerance but this grossed me out, but I decided to give it a try just
for scientific purposes. I didn't know it had a soundboard decal
until I cleaned it.
 
I left the piano on the skid. I first used a parts cleaning brush from
NAPA (a stiff nylon round brush) with a Metro vacuum to clean the
heavy stuff out. The stiff nylon bristles go through the strings and
disturb the dirt and the vacuum sucks it up. I wore a good 3M dust
mask too. When I could not get any more heavy stuff out, I used a
soundboard wand with a microfiber sock to get some more stuff off. I
found the decal but could barely read it. I did the same treatment for
the plate that also had a Chickering decal. Then I put some old towels
at the bottom inside the rim to catch the run off. I sprayed the plate
and soundboard with scrubbing bubbles, including the strings. After a
minute or less, the rest of the dirt floated up in the bubbles. I blew
the bubbles and dirt down to the towels with the Metro vac on blower
mode. . For the tuning pin area, I used the brush again with the
scrubbing bubbles to get the last of the dirt out. The towels were
brown when I was done. The plate looked nearly new and the soundboard
too. Just look at the pictures.
 
Doug Gregg
Classic Piano Doc,

All I can say is: WOW! <G> The only question I have is what the longterm,
(residual), effects may be. As you probably know, you can put mild
chemicals on metal and there will be no immidiate effect, but over time
corrosion and such will raise it's ugly head.
Thanks for the input. I am going to try it. (on something I own, first.<G>)
Regards,
Joe
Joe Garrett, R.P.T.
Captain of the Tool Police
Squares R I