[CAUT] Toughest piece for piano stability?

[Horace Greeley]

Hi, Alan,

At 09:22 AM 11/15/2010, you wrote:
>Enjoyed your post.

Thanks.

>  Regarding these agraffes, where does one purchase these?

I'm not sure.  I used to get them from Bosendorfer, but used up the 
last of that supply a year or so ago and haven't really looked 
since.  Brent might know.

>  And for that matter, is there a third-party supplier of pinned agraffes?

Not sure...maybe Jurgen or Jahn.  I don't think anything like that 
has been made in the U.S. since the middle of the 19th Century, and 
then only as pilots and/or for patent purposes.  Del might know more 
about that part...wish Harold Conklin were still with us, I'm sure he 
could shed some light, too.

In terms of the electorless nickel plating:  What I've done so far 
is, I admit, not terribly scientific.  I get appropriate agraffes, 
polish them in a tumbling rock polisher until they sparkle plenty 
(thanks to those who pick that one up), and then take them to 
whatever plater is willing to play with small lot jobs that don't pay 
very well.

In the SF Bay area, there are a couple of places which have done this 
with good results:

http://www.eps-plating.com/

http://www.electro-coatings.com/

If I were doing production rebuilding the way some on this list do, I 
might look for places outside CA for this kind of work.  The CA 
version of the EPA (and, especially the five counties around the Bay) 
have exceptionally strict (and very expensive) controls on this kind 
of processing, so the costs aren't low.  On the other hand, the fact 
that firms like this are active here also means that the business is 
sufficiently lucrative for them to stay.

In any event, as we so often discuss on this list, if you want 
quality work, you have to pay for it...

Sorry I can't be of more help with the pinned agraffes.  I'm sure 
someone else will have better answers.

Best.

Horace



>Thanks.
>
>Alan
>
>
>-- Alan McCoy, RPT
>Eastern Washington University
><amccoy at ewu.htm>amccoy at ewu.edu
>
>
>
>
>From: Horace Greeley <<hgreeley at sonic.htm>hgreeley at sonic.net>
>Reply-To: CAUTlist <<caut at ptg.htm>caut at ptg.org>
>Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2010 00:44:47 -0800
>To: CAUTlist <<caut at ptg.htm>caut at ptg.org>
>Subject: Re: [CAUT] Toughest piece for piano stability?
>
>After
>playing with this a bit, I'm pretty sure that I would go with the
>electroless nickel plated agraffes (and, probably bridge pins).