Paraffin wax can be rubbed on the capo. I believe it was Roger Jolly made this suggestion to me, and it works. John M. Ross Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca ----- Original Message ----- From: "James Ellis" <claviers@nxs.net> To: <caut@ptg.org> Sent: Saturday, March 12, 2005 9:18 AM Subject: [CAUT] Not so Funny > On March 9, Lance Laffargue asked an honest question about any possible > lubricant that might be used on the capo bars of those M&H Mod. BBs with > the very steep string angle. I'm familiar with that problem. Lance asked > an honest question that deserved an honest answer, but instead, he > received > a series of jokes about spraying WD-40. I didn't think they were funny, > because some people have been known to do the very thing those jokes > described. > > About a decade ago, another technician called me to advise and/or assist > him in removing WD-40 that a third techician had applied to a teaching > studio M&H grand. I agreed, under the condition that I would do my best, > but there would be no guarantee of results, good or bad. The objective > was > to get that stuff out of there before some of it migrated down into the > pinblock. > > I took an ample supply of cotton and cotton balls, clean rags, pairs of > long tweezers, a small can of naphtha, and some plastic bags. I packed > cotton around the tuning pins to prevent an accidental spatter from > running > down the pin. Then we very carefully went to work, string by string, with > small wads of cotton moistened with the naphtha and held by tweezers, > followed immediately with small wads of dry cotton. As I say, one string > at a time - very carefully - so as not to spread that stuff around. The > clean-up was successful, and nothing went down into the block. The job, > plus the trip, took the best part of one day. As long as there are some > people who will put this stuff in this area of pianos, it is not something > to joke about. > > As for a lubricant: Before the piano is strung, a pure paste wax like you > would use to wax your car - the kind without any abrasive - can be applied > to the contact surface of the copo, dried and rubbed out. That will help > a > little bit by adsorbing to the semi-porous surface of a cast iron capo, > and > it will retard corrosion, but it won't be permanent. I'm sure there are > other substances that would be better than the paste wax. But as I said, > before stringing. After the piano has been strung, NO, NOTHING. > > Sincerely, Jim Ellis > > _______________________________________________ > caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives >
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