CLP takes on crunchy snow and loses (almost)

[Clyde Hollinger]

Friends,

The piano, 1965 Cable spinet.  The problem -- crunchy snow sound.  You
know -- all those little ticks you hear when you depress the sustain
pedal or whatever.

So on this piano my tests indicated that the noise was coming from where
the damper liftrod comes in contact with the damper lever felt.  And I
tried something I had done successfully once before.  Without removing
the action, I squirted Protek CLP on the wood at the bottom of each of
the damper levers, since the felt was too far down to see, with the idea
that if I used enough it would run down on the felt and stop the
squeaks.

I was dismayed when finishing this procedure to find that now the
spoons, which were initially quiet, made so much crunchy snow noise that
I couldn't tell if I solved the liftrod noise or not.  By using a lot
more CLP and time than I intended, I got things quieted down again
(better than before I started but not totally solved), but I live in the
fear that the squeaks may re-appear, and what do I do then?  Remove the
action and spray that ugly graphite stuff over everything?!

Since I thought CLP was a lubricant to be used where felt contacts
metal, why did it cause me grief this time?  Was I misusing the stuff?
Please be gentle with me if I was a really bad boy.

Regards,
Clyde Hollinger