Quick action lubrication:

[antares]

It might be possible that I repeat myself, but this forum is an endless
repetition of facts anyway, and the more so as we all get older  (;>>)) so
why not tell you guys and gals the following :

Once upon a time I was at the house of this elderly piano teacher.
She complained to me about her STW O playing so heavy.
As I had used anti friction stuff (of all sorts) for years and as I had
found many places to apply my quick a-friction helpers, I decided to invest
some time with this instrument to a. help the lady and b. help myself.
Why help myself?
I needed more specific knowledge about applying these lubricants on the
various action parts as I had never really studied the result of my wildly
spraying and CLP-ing.

So I asked her for a piece of paper and began with :

measuring all a's and d's first and writing the down weights down.
taking off the action from the key frame.
taking off the keys from the frame.
spraying the balance-and front rail pins with McLube.
spraying the capstans with McLube.
easing the balance holes with the handy Yamaha tool.
putting it all together again.
measuring all a's and d's and writing the weights down.

the down weight had now changed considerably.
During the first pass with my measuring weights I was not able to get a
reading as my weights can only measure anything under 60 grams.
After the first treatment I was down (probably) many grams and the down
weights were measurable in the high 50's.

Next :

taking all repetition lever springs from out of their slots.
I cleaned the springs with a cloth so that they were shiny again.
applied McLube on the touch surfaces.
I put all the springs back into their slots and I applied CLP to the spring
center pins

measuring all a's and d's and writing the weights down.

The down weight had now changed dramatically and the springs acted up as if
they had just been installed. Many were way too strong due to the CLP and
the polishing job so I decided to first regulate the spring tension to get a
better reading.

The down weights were now at about 55 grams.

Next :

I applied CLP to the wippen flange centers
measuring all a's and d's and writing the weights down.

The down weights were now at about 54 grams.


I applied CLP to the jack centers
measuring all a's and d's and writing the weights down.

The down weights were now at about 53 grams.

I applied CLP to the hammer shank centers
measuring all a's and d's and writing the weights down.

The down weights were now at about 52 grams.

I applied teflon to the knuckles
measuring all a's and d's and writing the weights down.

The down weights were now at about 50 grams.

Finally, in order to get this O down to factory standards, I sprayed the
Spring levers with McLube (on the graphite)
measuring all a's and d's and writing the weights down.

Almost all keys were down to 47 grams!!

By that time I was tired and needed a break. Luckily the lady, who had
anxiously monitored my every move gave me a fine cup of delicious coffee
plus a wonderful energizing 'gevulde koek' (figure out that one yourself!)
During the coffee break I explained to her in detail what I had done and
what the result was.

After that generous treatment my energy level was in the high 50's and I did
some regulation.
Then I tuned and needed a long time to voice the instrument down to
reasonable beauty as through the influence of the lube treatment the
dynamics of the action had changed the sound volume to pain levels.
I then asked the customer to try her STW O.

As you can imagine, she was in extasy and told me that she had to learn to
play again, but without pain in her arm and shoulder muscles.

This little report shows clearly that the story of spraying and lubing
without knowing exactly where is an important lesson.
Touch and voicing are influenced dramatically and if, for instance, the
tuner has no regulation/voicing background, he or she might be in deep
trouble.
It also relates immediately to the Stanwood method and actually opens up a
complete new chapter in the piano industry as it involves touch and tone.

An that's exactly what we are all involved in.

Another Euro................

friendly greetings
from

Antares,

Amsterdam, Holland

"where music is, no harm can be"

visit my website at :  http://www.concertpianoservice.nl/