Canned air

[elizabeth-palladino]

I don’t do this, but am just wondering. Could canned air be used to keep levers, bridge pins, and tuning pins dust-free?

[Sam Karlinski]

I use it for the nooks and crannies of the carving on my 23. Haven’t seen any damage to the finish. I imagine the action would be fine – just make sure not to turn it upside down and freeze your harp!

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

I wonder if this would be useful for dealing with certain conductors.

[mike-c]

sounds very dangerous to me. the expansion of the gasses creates very cold temperatures instantaneously,

[Sam Karlinski]

The air coming from the can is approximately room temperature if held upright. Only when turned upside down is the gas cold.

[mccall-williams]

I’m with Mike C. I tried canned air on.. something I’d rather not say (NOT a harp!) and apparently held it at the wrong angle? I don’t know that I did.. but anyway, totally ruined the thing I was trying to take care of so lovingly. It’s a great idea! But I would pass on it with your beloved instrument.

I wonder about small-hosed vaccumes like I’ve seen certain mechanics with?

[Philippa mcauliffe]

Its not actually air in the can, its a volatile liquid with gas phase above said liquid.

[Sam Karlinski]

Canned air is made up mostly of fluorocarbons, which wouldn’t have much reactivity with metals to the best of my knowledge. There are plenty of metal parts in your computers and such – metal parts that would be much much more sensitive than the comparatively sturdy harp action. I wouldn’t worry about the metal bits.

I can’t say that I know what the varnish is made of, or how it would react, but I can say that the product is designed to be used in spurts. That is to say, not much of the gas would actually be touching the harp, and it dissipates rather quickly (otherwise it would be a health hazard).

The primary concern is temperature, and if the instructions are followed, there is no reason why the gas would be coming out much colder than room temperature.

[elizabeth-palladino]

I doubt that I would try it, because my harps aren’t dirty or dusty in the first place. (We won’t discuss my computer!) I was thinking that maybe the canned air

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