Second guessing methanol

[lance lafargue]

Ron said;
>Hi Ed,
>A while back, I did the same thing to a new S&S L, only I used cheap
vodka.
>The stuff was probably still poisonous, but not as bad as methanol, 

I thought Vodka was bad for your liver, too.  Maybe I'll use Meth till I
need glasses and then switch to the vodka.  

Seriously, I'll try the vodka next.  I've got plenty of actions in the shop
to experiment with in this climate.  I just hope the customer doesn't look
at me suspiciously.  

LANCE LAFARGUE, RPT
LAFARGUE PIANO SERVICES
New Orleans Chapter
Mandeville, LA.
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lafargue@iamerica.net

"Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to
make them all yourself."

----------
> From: Ron Nossaman <nossaman@SOUTHWIND.NET>
> To: pianotech@ptg.org
> Subject: Re: Second guessing methanol
> Date: Friday, July 02, 1999 6:26 PM
> 
> At 03:33 PM 7/2/99 EDT, you wrote:
> >Greetings all, 
> >    I was asked to deal with a chronic problem on a 1998 Steinway L.  
> >"Sticking keys". 
> >    The cause was excessively tight hammer flange centers.  Being a 
> >warranty-eligible problem, I wanted to stay within their recommendation,
so I 
> >called and was told to put one drop of methanol on each center and leave

> >totally untouched for 24 hours.   I did, and the hammers are once again 
> >swinging as they should.  
> >    Now,  I KNOW that if I had repinned this hammerline, I would have
had no 
> >further problems, (at least so far imhe).  However,  the ease of the
liquid 
> >diet has a lot going for it, and if the result is equally durable, it is
a 
> >no-brainer.  There were two prior visits by the dealer's techs, so it is

> >possible that the methanol was already tried, and if so, I will be
repinning 
> >this thing later.  
> >    Who on the list has experience of using this straight methanol on
the new 
> >Steinway's pinning?
> >Thanks, 
> >Ed Foote 
> >(and I always wondered what they denatured alcohol with,  it is this
stuff! 
> >poison!)
> >
> >
> 
> 
> Hi Ed,
> A while back, I did the same thing to a new S&S L, only I used cheap
vodka.
> The stuff was probably still poisonous, but not as bad as methanol, and I
> force dried it with a hair dryer. Worked just fine. I did this last
winter
> when the house humidity was in the high 30%'s, and it's been in the mid
> 60%'s for the last month in this part of the world/swamp. Since I haven't
> got the call (yet?) I assume it's still doing OK. I've used methanol for
> this in the past, with good results, but the cheap vodka works just as
well
> and is a lot safer. Doesn't smell as bad either and there isn't a storage
> problem. You can always drink what's left over. The long term results
seem
> to be pretty positively dependable (in the ACTION), oddly enough (easy
fixes
> are ALWAYS suspect), since I don't recall ever getting a call back on a
> center shrink job. Of course, that could reflect more on the state of my
> memory than the dependability of the fix (possibly from left over cheap
> vodka???? Nah!). 
> 
> Anyway, somewhere in the above paragraph is an opinion of sorts, and a
> reporting of the requested experience. I hope that answers your question,
> because I don't think I could do that again. 
> 
>    
>  Ron