Ruined Piano?

[Shellon]

My mom and I have six rental homes that we manage, usually without much more than the usual wear and tear damage.

The home I grew up in, right next door to me now, is one of the rentals and in it sits an OLD piano that my brother and I took lessons on and played alot. It's never been a problem to have it stay in the basement. In fact often the tenants or their guests have enjoyed playing the instrument.

Until now.

The unit is available again for rental on August 1, so we've been showing it, of course. One prospect lifted the keys cover to admire and asked if she could play a little while her partner wandered the house.

Every single white key was painted with marker; permanant no less!

My mother blew a gasket while I could only stare something like this: :blink:

The moving out tenant stumbled all over herself, causing me to believe she knew about it and hadn't had the guts to tell us, now was busted.

Her 6 year old precious had been coloring, apparently.

We'll deal with the security deposit issues, but in the mean time we are wondering how in the world we are going to get the once beautiful ivory clean without ruining it.

I'm assuming we can't just scrub them and if we try to remove and clean them with a product, we might compromise the quality, not really knowing what we are doing.

My youngest brother and I jokingly fight over which one of us gets that beautiful piano. Should I call him and tell him he can have it?

It's a shame to see such a beautiful instrument ruined. Any of you talented folks know anything about perhaps salvaging this mess?

Edited July 27, 2006 by Shellon Fockler-North

[Ron G.]

Be thankful, VERY thankful, the kid didn't get inside the instrument and use the wires for a bow and arrow or something.

I'd call a music store or piano tuner and get their opinion.

When the piano looks nice again, find your former tenant and take the kid out for a treat....at the local tattoo and body piercing parlor with the Harley Davidson stickers all over the windows...maybe mom, too.

[Shellon]

HEE HEE HEE

Brilliant Ron! In fact after the initial shock of the rainbow on the keys I didn't sit to play our beloved piano, nor did the gal looking at the house. As angry as my mom was, we may never see her again.

Yeah! Tattoo the little booger! LOL

Edited July 27, 2006 by Shellon Fockler-North

[Kevlar2000]

It's a shame to see such a beautiful instrument ruined. Any of you talented folks know anything about perhaps salvaging this mess?

Bon Ami cleanser, maybe? It's worth a try.

[dmiller]

Shellon --- I talked with some folks at our local piano store. If the keys are made of ivory,

a laquer thinner/ acetone should take off the *permanent* markings.

But if it has plastic keys -- acetone will eat through the keys,

(this info is per the guy from the shop.)

He said replacing the key tops would be the other option, and it is done all the time.

Replacing all the ivories on the keyboard would cost around $150.00.

[coolchef]

if anyone desacrated my yamaha it would be off with their heads but dmiller is right that replacement thing is done all the time

i also checked it out with my music store guy

damn i hate it when things like that happen

sorry

[Shellon]

Thanks boys.

Yeah, the more my mom hunts around the more it looks like replacement will be the way to go. We can't use any product that will require water and given that it appears to be permanant marker, it's likely soaked it up.

The chick's 600$ deposit is getting eaten up fast!

Dennis, yeah that was the look on my mothers face when we discovered this disaster. HA, my mom is one of those sweet kind ladies that her tenants love cuz she's such a darlin, but .... her off and whooo boy, even I got a little nervous.

[nolongerlurking]

You might try those "Magic Eraser" things. Mr. Clean makes them, but you can get generic brands at Target, Safeway, etc.

You wet them with water before use, but you also squeeze the water out like a sponge, so they should be ok to use on the keys without getting water into the piano.

I swear by these things and they're CHEAP. Do yourself a favor, go buy a box and try it on just one key. What have you got to lose if you're already looking at replacing all the keys anyway.

Good luck.

[doojable]

Shell - I have used Bestine (bought at any art supply store) to remove permanent marker. It will not eat up plastic. It isn't water based.

Make sure you have a window open -

Praying for those keys......

[Tom Strange]

yeah... what dooj said... or try a little fingernail polish remover (acetone) if they're ivory...

[mstar1]

If they are IVORY and not plastic imitation keys of sort, and you are leaning toward replacement, I definitely would check first to make sure that they will be replaced with genuine ivory of the same quality before they are removed, from the little that I know about pianos genuine ivory is apparently in short supply (endangered or protected species and all that) and imitation stuff is mostly used now.

I'd follow Rons lead and check out all the Piano Technicians near you, I would guess that something like this has happened before (kids being kids) and if you are lucky you may find someone who has dealt with it before and found the right substance to clean and save the original keys without damaging them in the cleaning process

Edited July 27, 2006 by mstar1

[pawtucket]

http://professionalpianoproducts.com/BuyKeyClean.html

[krys]

Before you give that tenant any of her security deposit - - have a reputable person give you an estimate of the instrument's fair market value.

Maybe it's "old" to you, but all things considered, it's probably just entering it's middle aged period and if it is structurally sound, and there are no problems with the action or harp, you may be surprised at the replacement value.....

I would think about taking her to court for not supervising her child well enough. I would be totally livid if someone did that to an instrument I loved and played as a child - - but then, pianos are special to me. (maybe someday I'll tell you all about it)

[coolchef]

krysillis

i understand about pianos being special

they can find a place in your heart!! please tell your story

i know i love my woops meant my yamaha

maybe we should start a new topic....pianos did aanyone say pianos!

[Shellon]

Indeed, the piano might be worth nothing.

To me it's my childhood memories, it's ditching the piano teacher, it's recitals with my brother, it's expressing myself through music, it's a light and silly fight with my brother to get the thing just because he wants it. It's about my maternal grandmother. When I cared for her until her death in l999, until the last few months, we'd go down there and she'd play for me. It's about a filet knife that my brother accidently left lying on it's top and I found at age five, cutting my eye. It's about the time I pushed another brother off it's top cuz he was too slow in the superman flying game. It's about the 9 stitches and the guilt.

Our dad picked it up at an auction somewhere around 1964, dragging it home hoping someone would pound out a note or three on it. Apparently it was a mess, requiring alot of cleaning and tuning and repair.

To me, it's a good part of my growing up.

And it's about the tenant lying. The piano means nothing to her, but she didn't have the guts to admit her child had ruined it, which would have made it so much easier had we had the option to say something to her like 'oh crap, ok' and stop over and see what might be done to fix it and work with her to pay the repair.

It's really not about the instrument itself.

[topoftheworld]

Shell, I am so sorry about the piano damage. And you are, of course, right-it's about the value of the memories, not the damaged item itself. Having lost many things over the years which had no value to anyone but myself, I can understand your feeling.

BTW, on the off chance that anything goes "legal" (let's hope not), make sure you take pics of the damage.

[nellie]

shellon -

once again your writing has blown me away! you're rendition of the piano, and its story - you should submit it! g'damn girl!!!

p.s. i hope you don't take the mother to court - good lord! kids do stupid .... all the time...she just shoulda come clean with ya, like ya said, but maybe she didn't have proper fetchin up...

mercy

now i'm into the story big time - how would it read if the piano were telling the story?

i bet it had some tales to tell even before your dad got it...

hmmmm

[washingtonweather]

Shell----I work with kids..as you know and we get permanenet marker on things...Try Germ-X, or any brand of Hand degermer--hand cleaner stuff. The sooner the better since its slighty pourus. Germ-X is also the best white board cleaner out there, second to disenfectant hand wipes.

as far as the tenant lying -- that just sucks....a real betrayal of trust

[ChasUFarley]

I don't know if anyone else has asked this yet - I can't recall seeing the question but...

Are you SURE it's permanant ink? (If so, that begs the question - What was that mom thinking with letting a 6 year old have permanant markers!!!) :blink: DUH!

We had a problem with Kristopher writing on the walls, fixtures, and even one of Hubby's guitar amps.

We discovered those Mr. Clean erasers work wonders - I love the things! They're great at taking the dirt or whatever off and nothing else. In one case, we had just painted the diningroom - not 24 hours later, little Kristopher decided to pull a Picasso on the walls. I figured we'd have to repaint the spot - nope.

I hope all works out well!

[Shellon]

Yeah, a six year old a a perm. marker is a bad combo. This mom and I have disagreed on numerous issues of parenting, which is another talk show.

We hadn't gotten over there to deal with the keys yet, but she called this morning to say that she did get them cleaned off.

She used something my uncle told her about (he does our rental plumbing, electrical, etc) that she couldn't recall the name of, but says they're clean.

We're meeting a guy there this afternoon to measure for some new windows, so we'll check out the keys. I'll see if I can play a tune on it.

And will ask Uncle Mike what he suggested she use that worked.

[washingtonweather]

so what happened to the piano keys?

[Shellon]

Hi WW.

As I said, the tenant got the crud off using some product I don't know the name of that my uncle, who does our maintenance work told her about.

In the meantime, we've rented the house to new tenants, been painting, replacing carpet, decided the original 1963 windows needed replacing, etc etc and etc.

We settled with the lady on deposit and got our business with her done and she's gone. We pretty much decided that we'd cut our losses and move on to get her outa our hair and not have to listen to her bi+ch anymore. Man o man can that woman TALK!

The piano plays, needs tuning, but plays fine. So, although the keys look worn and some are even chipped, it's ok and we would like to get them replaced.

But for now, we've filed it under 'something to do when we've nothing else to do'

This has been one of those situations too, where my mother and I disagreed on the tenant from the start. I knew this gal from before she applied and my vote was a resounding NO! but my mom has veto power cuz it's her house after all, her money. To toot my own horn, the stuff I said about her was exactly what happened.

However............she did keep the house immaculately clean and took very excellent care of the yard, maintaining beautiful gardens, etc., really making the place look nice on the highway it sits on.

And her rent was assisted with state monies, so at least 3/4 of the rent was always paid on time.

It turned into one of those things where smaller annoyances were put aside in favor of bigger ones.

I live behind the house, therefore living with the crap that I said would happen, but there ya go. Sometimes neighbors suck.

Now we've a new tenant, and we'll see.

[dmiller]

To toot my own horn, the stuff I said about her was exactly what happened.

[Tom Strange]

Now we've a new tenant, and we'll see.

and just what does your crystal ball say about the new tenant?

(it doesn't work on GS posters does it?)

[jardinero]

This one will probably take great care of the house but not be a gardener

J.