Tuning Pin tightner

[Les Smith]

Hi, Richard.

Nice post.

I guess it's probably better if we don't ask how you came to know
that Garfield's "tastes" like it has glycerein in it, huh?  :)
I believe that you're quite correct in your "observation" however.

As to why Garfield's is sold "undiluted", I believe the answer is
to give the technician flexibility it how it is diluted. In other
words, it doesn't always have to be a 50/50 mixture. In pianos where
the pins are so loose that the regular mixture excessively drips
past the tuning pins, into the action-cavity, adjusting the mix-
ture to say 75/25, will help to control the leakage. Likewise, if
the wooden plate bushing are still very tight a weaker mixture,
say, 40/60, or so,  may make it easier for the PBR to reach the
pinblock. In stubborn situations, some technicians put a small hole
in the front ( or, in the case of an upright, the top) of the wood-
en bushing, for the same reason.

As to the number of applications it may take to make the piano tun-
able, DON't give up too soon. In the earlier thread I mentioned, one
tech said that he gave an apparently hopeless grand either four or
five applications (!) and that it was still holding ten years later.
WOW!

One word of caution. I usually remove the action in a grand, before
applying the PBR. Others leave it inside the instrument and cover it
with plastic. You won't believe what PBR can do to action centers if
allowed to reach them! HOWEVER, uprights require special precautions,
too. Especially if you're applying the PBR to an upright lying on it's
back on the owners new living room rug. ALWAYS, lay the piano down on a
large, heavy piece of plastic. Especially in uprights that don't have
plate bushings, and which are not perfectly level when laid down, the
PBR mixture will have a tendency to travel, until it finds a place where
it will leak out on the rug. Maybe in full view of the owner as he is
watching. Not a pretty sight at all: either the mixture leaking onto the
rug, or the owners reaction when he sees it happen! Using the plastic
sheeting for protection is just another example of following the al-
ways-to-be-remembered dictum: CYA!

Les Smith
lessmith@buffnet.net.