Dear all, I had a few private emails requesting more information regarding P.V.A. so I decided to do a quick tour of the piano factories by phone. To find out, who was using what. All the people I phoned knew who I was why I was ringing and where the information was going to end up. here on this list so no comfidentiality has been broken or copyright and I thank them for ther help. Woodchester pianos P.V.A. made by Borden type D3 Welmars pianos P.V.A. made by Borden type D3 Broadwoods pianos P.V.A. made by Borden type D3 Bentlesys pianos P.V.A. made by Borden type D3 Knights pianos P.V.A. made by Borden type D3 Kembles P.V.A. type D3 bought from suppliers but thinks its Borden. Chapells P.V.A. type D3 bought from suppliers but thinks its Borden. Yamahas U.K. as above and also I asked him if Yamaha Japan use the same stuff he says yes, but it was a Japanese equivalent. Herberger Brooks use P.V.A. d3 for gluing action parts together. for the Keys they use a higher "D" but whould not say. However, they use animal glue for gluing leathers ane felts and also use animal glue on pre-hung hammers. Do not reccommend P.V.A. for hammerheads. Steinways workshops U.K. Deffinitely animal glue for all joints and key bushings. However, did admit that all the technicians do use P.V.A. when outside on a job. Availablility: I spoke to Evo-stick they said they do not export to the U.S. Canada, but they do export to South America and Europe. Borden Is a U.S. Company. and P.V.A. is under the wonderbond product range in the US. Deffinitions P.V.A. - Poly Vinyl Ascitate a polyema based glue suspended in water D3 this is an EEC term for the amount of humidity that the glue can resist. The general consensus of the manufacturers were, the reason they use P.V.A. was the wide and varying climates the piano go to and they get less failures with P.V.A. however, the exceptions to this, were Herberger Brooks and Steinways. some of the Tec's agreed with Steinways and Herberger Brooks. That on Grand pianos especially in the concert field, its more desirable to use animal glue because of the rapid deterioration of the hammerheads, so frequent change was necessary and animal glue, is the best suited for this job. Not one manufacturer mentioned the acoustic properties of animal glue and when confronted all I got was "eha never heard of that one". :-) Contacted a few others but because of the Frankfurt show they were all out to lunch. Hope this is of some help. Regards, Barrie. PS. Herberger Brooks in now owned by Harmony Pianos of Hong Kong what will Kimbel sell of next? -- Barrie Heaton | Be Environmentally Friendly URL: http://www.airtime.co.uk/forte/piano.htm | To Your Neighbour The UK PIano Page | pgp key on request | HAVE YOUR PIANO TUNED
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