Juice du Jour (Lubricants for Action Centers)

[David ilvedson]

> Date:          Sat, 14 Mar 1998 09:39:03 -0600
> From:          Paul Birsching <leadfoot@netnet.net>
> To:            pianotech@ptg.org
> Subject:       Re: Juice du Jour (Lubricants for Action Centers)
> Reply-to:      pianotech@ptg.org

My problem with alcohol/water is I am never sure if the centers 
will be loose when I'm done, i.e. having to repin.  Therefore I 
don't use it anymore and use Protek or repin.  I have a number 
of Steinway's with vertigri that Protek can help but of course 
can't cure.  I lube each service and someday we will replace 
parts!

David ilvedson, RPT
Pacifica, CA
> JIMRPT wrote:
> > 
> > In a message dated 3/13/98 1:38:01 AM, drose@dlcwest.com wrote:
> > 
> > <<If we are trying to get the flange to swell then *why* are we applying the
> > water on the bushing? And if all you want to do is *press* the felt, why
> > not just use dry heat!>>
> > 
> > Don;
> >  Unless the person doing the treatment is a lot more dexterious and precise
> >  than I am, it is unlikely that they could wet the "bushing" and not the wood
> >  surrounding the bushing also.  In the event that one succeeded this feat of
> >  ledgerdemain, :-), it would have been for nought, as moisture applied to the
> >  "bushing" will readily wick into the wood, away from the bushing.  This
> >  process is what causes the swelling I am hunting for when treating an action.
> >   If all I were hunting for were "felt pressing" I suppose the application of
> >  dry heat would work, but I don't know I've never tried it.
> > 
> >   The first time I had ever been told about treating an action in this manner
> >  was from Aubrey Willis. I was working in My Uncle's shop trying to regulate an
> >  upright and having difficulty because of sluggishness in the action.  Aubrey
> >  had stopped by, to have lunch with my Aunt and Uncle, and saw me struggling
> >  with this old beast.  He said he could make it work by using "a bit of the
> >  hair of the dog" and told me to take the action out of the piano and set it on
> >  a set of sawhorses.  Well I did, and he mixed this concoction of alcohol and
> >  water, and started squirting all the action centers while I stood there
> >  horrified that 'He' was playing a joke on me and my Uncle, and "how am I going
> >  to explain this to Uncle Smitty"? thoughts flashing through my head.  But I
> >  was 16 or 17 and he was.......well he was
> > Aubrey :-).  There was a swing up aluminum door on the shop and Aubrey put
> >  this action up on top of the door in the sunshine just as My Uncle drove in
> >  the driveway.  During lunch he told of the troubles I was having regulating
> >  that  action and Uncle Smitty said "well we'll treat it after lunch" and
> >  Aubrey said that "Jim had already done it" !  See, there he was blaming
> >  ruining that action on me!!!
> >   Well to shorten the story I took down the action after lunch, stuck it in
> >  the piano, and it worked just fine. (after much screw tightening) Thank you
> >  Aubrey !
> > 
> > <<"The usual denaturing agent in alcohol is oil. I am not sure about the
> > rubbing alcohol">>
> > 
> >   Don I think the opposite is true re:
> > de-na-tured alcohol (de-na-chúrd) n.
> > Ethyl alcohol to which a poisonous substance, such as acetone or methanol, has
> >  been added to make it unfit for consumption.
> > 
> >   And that Rubbing alcohol has the oil, of some description,  added to it
> >  but............. I have been far off target before. :-)
> > JIm Bryant (FL)
> 	I recently dried an action that resided near a Lake Michigan.  The
> results were less than stellar, as the moisture soon returned.  More
> recently, I was introduced to water and alcohol on an 1900's Steinway
> upright action that had 6 or 8 grams of friction in the jack.  A good
> soaking and the next day the friction had dropped to one gram with no
> loss of integrity of fit.  Whatever is really happening, I know which
> solution works.
> 
>