Protecting plain wire from rust

[Tom Servinsky]

Mark,
I think that I made myself very clear. Use a very min. amt of Vaseline and 
work it into a cotton cloth. Simply wipe the string enough to coat the 
strings. That's it.
I also made it very clear there is absolutely no goo or gummy appearance to 
the string. In fact there is no sign at all that the string is coated. I can 
say that after 25 yrs of doing this on piano in the tropics, the strings 
stay looking pristine.
Keep in mind that we also use humidity control within the piano as well.
As far as the Protek is concerned, this could be a very good R & D project 
for someone, maybe like yourself, to begin a study and report back to us 
your findings after 1, 5, 10, 20 yrs. Then we can figure if Protek could be 
a good additive.
My studies for my method, as of now, are complete and valid over a 25 yr. 
period with absolute success. Not that there are not other ways to skin the 
cat, but this particular method does work with great success.
To date, I have never had to go back and re-coat.
Tom Servinsky

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark Schecter" <schecter at pacbell.net>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 26, 2006 2:43 PM
Subject: Re: Protecting plain wire from rust


> Hi, Tom.
>
> Thanks for writing. The vaseline idea is interesting. I have two
> concerns about it. The more minor one is, are the strings at all gummy,
> and do they attract or collect dust? Not that it would be very much, but
> let's say, ten years down the line, are they still shiny? Do you ever
> renew the coating, and if so, what do you do about the area
> around/between the tuning pins?
>
> The other concern is, since vaseline is a petroleum product that we know
> melts with even very slight heat, could there ever be contamination of
> the pin block? I suppose you're using so little, you wouldn't expect it,
> but it seems worth asking anyway.
>
> Also, I wonder whether any manufacturers do anything to treat plain
> wire, especially when the piano is destined for a humid environment?
> With so many pianos being made in Asia, I would think that rust would be
> a concern right from the beginning. What about the wire and pins they
> store for manufacturing?
>
> As far as using Protek being more expensive, I wonder just how much it
> would really cost per piano? When I have used it prior to tuning, I've
> been using the liquid on a piece of felt as a spreader. But I guess you
> could just as easily make your oil cloth with (what is it?) MPL.
>
> That brings to mind the question of active ingredients. With vaseline,
> it's the grease that's doing the protecting. With Protek liquid, it's
> Teflon (presumably). With Protek MPL, I suppose it would be both. What I
> like about the Protek liquid is, there is no grease involved, even if
> it's more expensive.
>
> So anyway, thanks for your thoughts!
>
> -Mark
>
> Tom Servinsky wrote:
>> Mark,
>> Make yourself a small  oil cloth by working a small amt. of Vaseline in a 
>> small piece of fabric ( T-shirt material). Simply wipe the string with 
>> the oil cloth just prior to installation and the string will remain 
>> looking new even through bad tropical  conditions.
>> We live in the tropics where hurricanes have wrecked havoc in our area 
>> over the past 2 years. Where most pianos strings rusted out due to the 
>> excessive salt exposure, the pianos we have rebuilt using this methods 
>> came out squeaky clean.
>> There doesn't seem to be an adverse affect on tonal and string behavior 
>> using this method.
>> I idea of using Protek has crossed my mind however the cost vs the 
>> Vaseline doesn't make good economic sense.
>> Tom Servinsky
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Schecter" <schecter at pacbell.net>
>> To: "Pianotech" <pianotech at ptg.org>
>> Sent: Saturday, March 25, 2006 12:15 AM
>> Subject: Protecting plain wire from rust
>>
>>
>>> Hi, all. Here's something I've been wondering about.
>>>
>>> In pianos with rusty strings, I use Protek on the strings where they 
>>> pass under the capo, and where they pass through the agraffes, as well 
>>> as on the counterbearing felt, to help ease rendering. It works, and 
>>> seems to keep on working for at least a few months, maybe longer. I have 
>>> often wondered if there is any substance (such as, oh, maybe, Protek?) 
>>> that people use on clean, shiny strings to prevent rust or tarnish ever 
>>> developing? I could imagine taking whole rolls of wire and dipping it in 
>>> a bath of XYZ-stuff before stringing, or sponging it on in the piano.
>>>
>>> We are instructed to coat practically every other metal surface in every 
>>> device in our lives (think car) with something or other, so why not 
>>> piano strings? I guess we could expand the question to include 
>>> copper-wound bass strings, too, if anyone has any thoughts about those. 
>>> I'm interested to hear people's ideas.
>>>
>>> -Mark Schecter
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>