Protecting plain wire from rust

[Tom Servinsky]

Good question. Wouldn't hurt. But rust that has already gotten in areas 
where it is impossible to clean is going to continue to do damage.
As far as a process, I would simply do a light wipe down of the strings with 
the "oil" cloth , trying not to touch the wound strings.
I will say that in additional to this method, I am a strong advocate of the 
string cover felt concept. The good quality string cover felt will add 
needed protection and ( at least) slow the progression of rust.
Tom Servinsky

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Geoff Sykes" <thetuner at ivories52.com>
To: "'Pianotech List'" <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 26, 2006 5:35 PM
Subject: RE: Protecting plain wire from rust


> Tom --
>
> I have a customer with a 1919 Hazelton Bros. piano that I service 
> regularly
> that has rusty strings. The piano has had a DC in it for years. I recently
> replaced it as the tank for the old one literally fell out of the piano.
> Nevertheless, and in spite of the fact that the DC is functionally 
> correctly
> and is properly maintained, the strings continue to show increasing signs 
> of
> rust. Do you think that employing your Vaseline treatment to these strings
> at this late stage might be beneficial? If yes, how would you go about
> applying this treatment to strings already in the piano?
>
> -- Geoff Sykes
> -- Assoc. Los Angeles
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On 
> Behalf
> Of Tom Servinsky
> Sent: Sunday, March 26, 2006 1:54 PM
> To: schecter at pacbell.net; Pianotech List
> Subject: Re: Protecting plain wire from rust
>
>
> 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
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
>