WD40- Steinway B update

[PAULREVENKOJONES]

Tom:

A question. You said that you got more sustain after re-pinning the bridge "with a longer profile". I take you mean that they extend higher above the bridge surface than the originals? Of the two factors--1) new and tight pins, and 2) higher profile--to which do you attribute the longer sustain. There is no experimental data that I know of that speaks to bridge pin height (there has been sporadic discussion on this list), and I know the Wapin folks have played with bridge pin angle and termination position with interesting results. Any thoughts? Or are there too many variables involved here?

Paul

"If you want to know the truth, stop having opinions" (Chinese fortune cookie)


In a message dated 07/22/07 07:42:43 Central Daylight Time, tompiano at bellsouth.net writes:
List 
Had some time to do some experimenting with this Steinway B which had the 
WD40 treatment. If you remember, the instrument was quite decent prior to 
the owner spraying WD40 everywhere. Now the tone and sustain is dead. 
Many of your suggestions dealt with wood becoming soft, espeically in the 
bridge cap.  Some suggestions dealt with terminations be hampered. All good 
leads. 
1. I cleaned with the termination points ( capo/ agraffe, bridge pins/bridge 
cap) on 5 notes throughout the piano. 
Result- some clarity improvement, but no improvement in sustain. 
Test - plucking the string only ( hammers also are damaged) and listening to 
the sustain and quality of tone. 
2. Check bridge pinning. So loose they came out by hand with ease. 
   Installed #8 bridge pins with longer profile 
Result:  Increase in sustain by 5 seconds. Tone much fuller. Still not up to 
my expectations, but an improvement no less. 
Some good news:   the wood on the bridge cap appeared very firm and not 
mushy. 
My hunch is that once the board is stripped, sanded, and refinished, new 
bridge pins installed, new agraffes, and capo cleaned/shaped thoroughly, the 
sustain will improve dramatically. 
I'll keep you posted. 
Tom Servinsky 
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