Protecting plain wire from rust

[Andrew and Rebeca Anderson]

I'd clean as much rust off as possible first.  Get rid of a few rust 
nodes, clean up the sound a little...

Andrew


At 04:35 PM 3/26/2006, you wrote:
>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
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >