Hi, Rolf, and Colleagues - The Baldwin SD-10 and SF-10 have used 'treble terminators' (Baldwin's terminology, although in this thread some have referred to them as 'resonators') for more than 30 years. These are the proprietary castings used in what would otherwise be the 'capo' area. There have been some changes in design and materials over that time. The earliest version, as I recall, were cast as gang units serving several notes. More recent ones are individual castings for each note. Willard Sims was the head of Baldwin's technical service department in the early '70s (and for some time before and after that). He used to advise field techs to lubricate these fittings with WD40 "once every few years". Apparently, at that time anyway, the castings were of a composition that did not provide a lubricious contact with the steel strings. (By contrast, the contact between the steel strings and the brass agraffes _is_ lubricious.) Willard's instructions were to apply a small amount of the WD40 at the two contact points (the actual termination point, and the string support closer to the tuning pins) using a Q-tip. Then wipe dry with a Kleenex. The minute amount of lubricant remaining would be sufficient. I did this with a few pianos in my care at that time, and I liked the resulting feel in tuning them. I noticed no ill effects at all, except a slight tendency for the lubed strings to collect dust. I have not employed this technique in a number of years somehow. However, I have three SF-10s and one SD-10 that are candidates for the treatment. Rookies, take note: If you don't know what you are doing, or are not careful, you may wish you'd never heard of WD40! For heaven's sake, do not spray the stuff anywhere around a piano. And don't put it anywhere Willard didn't tell us to. In particular, do not get any at all on any wound strings! - Tom McNeil - Vermont Piano Restorations In a message dated 99-03-07 10:14:19 EST, Rolf von Walthausen wrote: << The specific situation I'm trying to figure out has to do with a Baldwin SD-10 from the early 70s that was restrung five years ago with the original 'treble resonators'. Nothing else was modified as far as I can see. The problem is that the strings in the treble section D5-G6 do not move in corresponding units with similar movements of the pin. The feel and response is much like that of a Steinway upright where the string moves a large amount all of a sudden after many movements of the pin in the block. I've never experienced this before on an SD-10, either with the old-type resonators or the new type. I was interested to read Roger Jolly's observation that the 'old-type' resonators were made of a material with a different carbon content and hardness, so I wonder if there were experiments with different prototype models of SD-10 (between the SD-10 and SD-10b) with resonators that might be causing the strings to respond differently to string pulls? >>
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