Lesson learned.....

[Michael Gamble]

Hello Susan... YMMV..? Yes.. My..My.. Very.. Anyway I agree not to CA any
pins other than the loose ones, though I have only done that on those types
which LDF (Lie Down Flat) Those which SUR - you guessed it! Stand Up Right -
though I suppose y'all would say SV ..? well, it would depend on the wicking
properties of the pin block I suppose.
Regards
MG.(UK)

-----Original Message-----
From: Susan Kline [mailto:skline@peak.org] 
Sent: 23 September 2005 16:04
To: Pianotech
Subject: RE: Lesson learned.....

At 10:31 AM 9/23/2005 -0500, you wrote:
>I use drop cloths now, always.

How about using LESS GLUE!?!??

This whole thread just shouts at me, "they are using too much!"
Like pouring someone a cup of coffee, and you don't think you've done it
right until the coffee slops over the saucer onto the tablecloth.

I know we're in the early stages of using CA glue, without a great deal
of hard data as to the effects of more or less, and the timing of the
application(s), but I get the strong feeling that less is better, and
that two small applications is much better than one flooding. The first
(small) application seals the tiny cracks, and the second re-lines the
tuning pin holes. Well, that's how I account for what I observe.

The great blessing of CA for loose pins, it seems to me, is that by
following small cracks, it improves the other loose pins in the area.
Some of what we used to do, like tapping down a loose pin or using an
oversized pin, made the neighbors worse. So, if using CA on a really
bad pin, surrounded by sort of bad pins, will help them all to a certain
extent, and will certainly prepare the area for more glue if it is
needed later, by sealing some of the small cracks, why try to do it
all at once?

It also sounds like people are flooding every single tuning pin as a
standard practice. Maybe it's just our benign climate, but even the bad
pinblocks I work on here (refugees from other places) have large sections
where all the pins are tunable and okay, though not really snug.
Why not just put the stuff where it is needed, and leave the rest alone?

So far, it's worked for me to not tilt the piano. I put some CA at the seam
at the top of the tuning pin, wait a little, put a little more on. I use
Loctite's little plastic bottle with the long narrow spout. It just lives
in my kit. If CA starts to run down the plate, I sop it up with the corner
of a shop towel. After a few minutes, I try to tune it. Once in awhile,
I give it a little more, but most of the time it's tunable after ten
minutes. On repeat visits, the old treated pins are okay, and I'll do a
couple more if need be.

It's also a lot less time and fuss and mess to treat only the pins which
won't hold. The job just slips into a normal tuning, like dusting off the
innards, fixing a couple bobbling notes, bending a scraping bridle wire,
etc. A few minutes as needed, and if one sees the piano on a regular
basis, pretty soon loose pins aren't a problem with it. (in my experience 
.. YMMV)

Susan