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De-covidation of a keyboard


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Hello, weird subject I know. My buddy and I have both been largely sequestered and are considering trading keyboards for a while to see if we want to do a swap.

 

While we both are reasonably sure we aren't infected, might as well take the guessword out of it. Not shaking hands, keeping distance, and while there isn't a lot of (or any?) evidence that this virus has actually infected people via surfaces, it's plausible to think it could.

 

So what would you use to disinfect a keyboard without harming it? Soap and water are all you need for hands but suds wouldn't be great for electronic equipment. Would you leave it for some minutes out in the sun (we know UV isn't good for covid.)?

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Use disinfectant wipes. Test on a small area underneath just to be sure it doesn't mess up color or graphics. Get all the keys and knobs, faders etc. That's about the best you can do. They say Covid-19 specifically only lives on plastic and metal surfaces for like 2-3 days.

Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560

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Disinfectant wipes or just let the keyboard sit for three or four days that's how long the virus can last on hard plastic or metal surfaces. I saw on my old guitar forum I used to hang on that is what repair people are doing they get gear for repair they let it sit for a week before they work on it.
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Purely unscientific, but I just let things set for a couple of days post-Covid. Viral remnants can be detected for longer (sometimes much longer) but that's supposed to take care of it being an infectious agent.

 

If anyone has studies showing that's not true, please correct me and post it. I'd be interested as well.

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Don't know why it didn't occur to me, but I got a recommendation of using 70% standard rubbing alcohol. As it happens I have some 90% stuff I've used to clean contacts in keyboards, some in a spray bottle my wife got for covid.

 

I'll use wipes on the keys at least, shouldn't hurt those, then do a wipedown with alcohol and a rag. I'll be evaluating his keyboard as a controller mainly, so keys and maybe mod wheel are the only things I need to touch on it at first.

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LOL!

 

Not shown: very long "social distancing shockrod" used to keep unruly patrons and excited guitar players at an appropriate distance. Powered by USB from my MODX!

 

If you think I"m bad, there are a couple people posting a science forum I frequent that are *really* into protection...one has a routine for his (delivered) groceries that would be envied by the CDC if they were receiving new samples. It actually sounds dangerous (involves ozone, used outside, but still...)

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LOL!

 

Not shown: very long "social distancing shockrod" used to keep unruly patrons and excited guitar players at an appropriate distance. Powered by USB from my MODX!

 

If you think I"m bad, there are a couple people posting a science forum I frequent that are *really* into protection...one has a routine for his (delivered) groceries that would be envied by the CDC if they were receiving new samples. It actually sounds dangerous (involves ozone, used outside, but still...)

 

Oh yes, if your near any city where the numbers are ticking up - don"t mess around.

Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560

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My city (Orlando) was listed recently as #3 as far as new cases. Florida in general is pretty much exploding with cases (over 4,000 last Friday), the big question is: will hospitals be overrun in a couple weeks, or will the fact that the cases are skewing younger mean less impact on hospitals? Not a good time to take chances, you do NOT want to be in an Italy/Spain situation where you can't even be seen because the hospitals are out of beds and personnel.

 

My buddy and I are almost certainly safe as we've both been sheltering, but we'll assume we are not and make the switch in his front driveway, no hugs or handshakes :)

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My buddy and I are almost certainly safe as we've both been sheltering, but we'll assume we are not and make the switch in his front driveway, no hugs or handshakes :)

 

 

My CPAP machine died during this C-19 stuff and doctor said it was a problem so the company I get the machine from agreed to replace without trying to repair. The company told me what time to come to their office and to just go to the door. I get there and there's a guy at the door who thru the glass door said go back to your car and I will come out. Then he comes out with a new machine, I get out of my car with the old one and we set them on the ground and we exchanged machines. It felt like a spy's exchanging info in a movie. LOL

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:)

 

It's going to be weird being around a non-family member, we'll probably hang outside for a bit having some bring-your-own lunch together (we used to meet up once a week). Use one of my soccer-dad portable chairs :) I have a reaction at times when watching a movie or show, I'll see people clumped together without a care in the world and it's just weird. New normal I guess.

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My buddy and I are almost certainly safe as we've both been sheltering, but we'll assume we are not and make the switch in his front driveway, no hugs or handshakes :)

 

 

My CPAP machine died during this C-19 stuff and doctor said it was a problem so the company I get the machine from agreed to replace without trying to repair. The company told me what time to come to their office and to just go to the door. I get there and there's a guy at the door who thru the glass door said go back to your car and I will come out. Then he comes out with a new machine, I get out of my car with the old one and we set them on the ground and we exchanged machines. It felt like a spy's exchanging info in a movie. LOL

 

That"s become normal curbside pickup for every business in NY/NJ. I have such an appointment with Walmart in the morning!

Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560

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It's pretty surreal to be doing curbside pickup, taking all these precautions--and watching loads of other shoppers going in and out without masks on and no obvious effort to stay away from others. At least a week ago that's how it was. Not sure what teeth our mandatory mask announcement has. I certainly prefer to give my business to those places that enforce masks.

 

So far I haven't seen much on how many cases if any have been known to be caused by surface contact.

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If your concerned about damaging the board, don't put anything on it and just disinfect your hands when done playing it. Like others have said, after a few days it won't be a risk anyway.
Kurzweil Forte, Yamaha Motif ES7, Muse Receptor 2 Pro Max, Neo Ventilator
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Yes I agree with the others. Treat your keyboards like air passengers and simply quarantine them for a few days after receiving them. I had my piano tuned a couple of weeks ago and didn't play it for several days afterwards. (Fortunately I had a nice electronic alternative to turn to during that period). :)
"Turn your fingers into a dust rag and keep them keys clean!" ;) Bluzeyone
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Isopropyl Alchohol 70% on a paper towel

Fresh air, a keyboard in a case will preserve the virus longer.

 Find 660 of my jazz piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Harry was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book."

 

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Isopropanol or any other alcohol at 70% concentration or more will do the job. When it was really getting hard to find any useful disinfectant, I took a gamble and tried my local liquor store. Sure enough, they'd managed to find a couple caseloads of Gem Clear, which is 95% pure ethanol, and were selling bottles at a reasonable price. The bonus there is of course that whatever you don't need, you can mix with Jello and pretend you're still in your 20s.

 

UV as in sunshine? Nowhere near strong enough. The piddling little UV wands they're selling now won't do squat either. I have a friend who has a wife on dialysis, a massive risk of death if COVID gets into their house. He runs a recording studio. Their policy is that clients are kept out of the control room except under very strict conditions and are not allowed to touch anything. The tracking room has been mounted with a UV light capable of killing COVID in a few hours, and on orders from his wife's doctors (who have consulted with specialists), it can only be run at night with no one in the room, as it is incredibly dangerous. What kills COVID effectively will also kill humans under the wrong circumstances.

 

EDIT: I should mention that the above disinfecting schedule only works if he limits the studio to one client per day, which is still lean as hell but way better than nothing.

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

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Isopropyl Alchohol 70% on a paper towel

Fresh air and sun

I"m high risk (2x open heart surgery w/compromised cardiopulmonary function at 65) and the above is what I would be comfortable with. Although I would also likely wash my hands thoroughly after playing the first couple of days, just to be safe. Don"t touch your face until hands are washed.

I would like to apologize to anyone I have not yet offended. Please be patient and I will get to you shortly.
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I found this interview with an epidemiologist to be enlightening.

 

Relevant quote from the interview:

We've looked very carefully at the data dating back for decades and research about these kinds of respiratory transmitted infections. And clearly, the surfaces play a very, very little role at all in transmission of this...

 

...I don't worry about food. I don't worry about newsprint. I don't worry about packages I get here. I don't worry about doorknobs and railings any more than I would during the regular cold season. [That's not] what's going to be the major challenge with this virus. ... It's the air that we share with each other that is critical. That's why distancing is so important.

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Isopropanol or any other alcohol at 70% concentration or more will do the job. When it was really getting hard to find any useful disinfectant, I took a gamble and tried my local liquor store. Sure enough, they'd managed to find a couple caseloads of Gem Clear, which is 95% pure ethanol, and were selling bottles at a reasonable price. The bonus there is of course that whatever you don't need, you can mix with Jello and pretend you're still in your 20s.

 

UV as in sunshine? Nowhere near strong enough. The piddling little UV wands they're selling now won't do squat either. I have a friend who has a wife on dialysis, a massive risk of death if COVID gets into their house. He runs a recording studio. Their policy is that clients are kept out of the control room except under very strict conditions and are not allowed to touch anything. The tracking room has been mounted with a UV light capable of killing COVID in a few hours, and on orders from his wife's doctors (who have consulted with specialists), it can only be run at night with no one in the room, as it is incredibly dangerous. What kills COVID effectively will also kill humans under the wrong circumstances.

 

EDIT: I should mention that the above disinfecting schedule only works if he limits the studio to one client per day, which is still lean as hell but way better than nothing.

 

Interesting about the UV light. I have some experience with a UV light built into an aquarium filter, and eventually it disintegrated some of the plastic parts of the filter.

 

Good stuff, I think between the wipes, alcohol and some time out on the porch I should be good. As I mentioned the buddy is about as safe as I am, and I'm pretty safe. Just a bit of a particularly scary time right now in our area. Starting to finally hear about friends of friends coming down with covid, and since I'm off social media there might well be a lot more that I'm just not aware of. I heard that a former co-worker and her husband were basically laid up for almost a month and a half. Just too weak to do much of anything, they had oxygen sensors that showed low oxygen, hospital said "if it gets worse you need to come in." Yikes.

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I would get an Acetylene welding setup and lightly burn every surface of the instrument while making sure to preserve most of its functionality.

 

Then you should leave it out in the yard for 14 days.

 

After 14 days, if you see any signs of organic life around the instrument from at least 20 yards away you should proceed to douse it with gasoline and set it on fire.

 

Then call Elon Musk and ask that he assign it for payload to Mars on his first mission to ensure it leaves the Earth's biosphere permanently.

J a z z  P i a n o 8 8

--

Yamaha C7D

Montage8 | CP300 | CP4 | SK1-73 | OB6 | Seven

K8.2 | 3300 | CPSv.3

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Isopropanol or any other alcohol at 70% concentration or more will do the job. When it was really getting hard to find any useful disinfectant, I took a gamble and tried my local liquor store. Sure enough, they'd managed to find a couple caseloads of Gem Clear, which is 95% pure ethanol, and were selling bottles at a reasonable price. The bonus there is of course that whatever you don't need, you can mix with Jello and pretend you're still in your 20s.

 

Isopropyl alcohol has been practically impossible to obtain - even today. It's my favorite disinfectant, so I look for it all the time. Every couple of weeks my local Walgreens gets some 16oz bottles in, and limits you to just one. It's all gone in hours.

 

Costco has been getting around the shortage by selling 5ths of what's basically 160 proof hooch in their pharmacy for $12. It comes in a nice liquor bottle, and is listed as 80% ethanol - denatured. In my younger years yeah... I'd probably try drinking it.

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There's been a lot of information about how long COVID lives on various surfaces, but as of the last meta-study I read (at about 2 million cases), not a single infection has resulted from this. So...wash your hands of both infection and too much worry in this case.

Now out! "Mind the Gap," a 24-song album of new material.
www.joshweinstein.com

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I"ve read something similar.

 

On one hand, being careful doesn't hurt much, might cost a bit. I still wash my hands and obviously by posting this am trying to hedge bets.

 

On the other, I fear the emphasis on hand-washing and not touching stuff pushed the real problem a bit to the background at the beginning (that being, don't be around people breathing into the air around you, especially indoors.) I had a devil of a time getting my mom to be careful a couple months ago, she was ignoring social distancing/wearing mask because she kept saying "the most important thing is washing hands, I do that all the time!"

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Isopropanol or any other alcohol at 70% concentration or more will do the job.

 

Actually, higher concentrations of alcohol can be less effective. I read a lot on this a few months ago when I was researching making my own hand sanitizer.

 

Some good info here: https://www.quora.com/Is-70-or-90-isopropyl-alcohol-better-for-disinfecting

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I did end up reading the same thing since I first posted. Not only is it less effective due to the effect on the membrane, it dries more quickly. I bought my 90% stuff to clean contacts under keys, you don't want water in that case.
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