Agraffes

[Lorlin D. Barber]

About 5 years ago I was at the Central Regional PTG meeting in Minneapolis and
Susan Graham was giving a class there.  Susan had fabricated the nicest little
hand held agraffe countersink tool.  At that time Pianotech supply was to be
carrying it.  I have been looking for this tool since then but to no avail.

If anyone knows the source of this gem, I assure you it would be of great benefit
in this situation (and I would be delighted as well).

Lorlin Barber
Iowa State Univ.
Music Dept.

Paul Kupelian wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Of course replacing the agraffes would be the best solution.  However, if
> you decide to clean them, I have found that using a buffing belt or wheel
> with red
> rouge does a nice job of polishing, and then follow that up with the
> reaming.
>
> I made a neat little agraffe holder out of oak that I use to hold the
> agraffe against the belt or wheel.  (I use a Delta 1" belt sander that I
> have buffing belts for.) The tool is 1" X 1/2" X 3". I sanded
> it to a bevel on one end so it looks like a giant carpenters pencil.  I
> drilled a hole in the center just large enough to thread the agraffe in.
> Works great and I don't end up buffing my fingers even though sometimes
> they may need it too (:>.
>
> On Wed, 11 Aug 1999, Mary C. Smith wrote:
>
> > List,
> >
> > I have just encountered a Baldwin L with cat pee on the piano wire in the
> > mid-range. The urine has caused considerable rusting on the pin side of the
> > strings in this area, and strings are all ready starting to break. I plan to
> > restring the mid-range plain wire only, as the problem is confined to this
> > area, and I know the customer does not want to afford a complete
> > restringing. My question is this: should I replace all or some of the
> > agraffes (4 of them are polluted with crud), or should I clean and ream? If
> > cleaning is recommended, what would be the best thing to use? Thanks in
> > advance for input.
> >
> > Mary Smith
> >

--
Barbers Piano Service, Inc.
Phone No. 515-274-5940
Website: http://www.commongroup.net/barberspiano