Upright Wippen Rebuilding Questions

[Keith Roberts]

I thought it gave me less problems when I worked it fast. Spend your time
making nice cuts in the felt so they line up easily. Set up your work space
so everything is in arm's reach and organized. Grab the glue brush and go.
It takes the first 10 to see if they will look okay. Still the 88th note can
seem so far away..............
Keith

----- Original Message -----
From: "Farrell" <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 22, 2003 11:39 AM
Subject: Re: Upright Wippen Rebuilding Questions


> I can easily see that optimal working with hot hide glue is really quite
an art in itself.
>
> Terry Farrell
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Keith Roberts" <kpiano@goldrush.com>
> To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Sent: Saturday, March 22, 2003 2:02 PM
> Subject: Re: Upright Wippen Rebuilding Questions
>
>
> > > So many of the things I am doing in my shop, I am doing for the first
or
> > second time. In many ways my focus is on doing it right and getting the
> > results I want. After I am sure I have that down pat, I will focus on
> > efficiency.
> > >
> > > Terry Farrell
> > >
> > That's what I was focusing on, doing it right. If you have to much glue
and
> > squeeze too hard, the glue goes into the felt making it too thin and
hard to
> > be good. It's my perception that you don't want to clamp the felt. Just
lay
> > it down into the glue and smooth out. Hot hide glue is used because it
needs
> > to be worked fast. It seems to have two stages, cool down and gel. Cool
down
> > happens quick, you get your felt into the glue at this stage. Both
stages
> > vary in time according to how much glue you used, etc. The gel time
varies
> > with different felts. A soft felt that sucks the glue up will have a
shorter
> > gel time. Working time can be altered. Within the working temp of the
glue
> > you can have hot and thick, hot and thin, cool and thick, and cool and
thin.
> > So let me stick MY neck out. I'll describe the job I was doing yesteday.
> > Damper felts on a Baldwin grand. I cut the felts and set them in order
in a
> > tray. All square cuts on this one. Sitting at the piano, the glue pot,
> > dampers and felts to the left, I grab the damper, turn it over, brush on
the
> > glue, set the felts into the glue quick. A little fuss with alignment,
turn
> > it over, make sure, then a quick, firm, press. Knock off the squeeze and
put
> > the damper in place. Of course I've loosened all the screws and checked
the
> > hole with a drill bit. At this point I have about 15 to 30 sec to push
the
> > felt around with the tip of a screwdriver. This aligns the head with the
> > string and makes the front and back edge look the same. Neat. The whole
> > process was approx. 1 1/2 minutes per head, so cooldown was 15 seconds,
the
> > gel adjustment time was about 1 minute. Maybe a little more. Once you
set
> > the felt, it will stay unless you bump it putting on the next piece. On
your
> > small pieces a 5 sec cool down and 15 second gel time, or about ten
seconds
> > apiece. That's a long time. 15 seconds seems like minute to most people.
> > Remember, even coating of glue. When it dries, the felt draws down
evenly
> > and looks natural.
> > I hope that wasn't too Off Thread Topic. I tried to stick with my
> > perceptions of working with hot hide glue. I'm sure there will be those
that
> > say this post was about gluing on grand dampers and strayed to far from
the
> > posted thread but I thought it was a fair offshoot.
> > Keith Roberts
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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>