Hi Fred, I was wondering if anyone might mention epoxy. Though I've used CA glue with success, there's another method I believe Joe Garrett passed along, and it works really nice. Use a thin viscosity epoxy (West-System), place a drop at the base of each bridge-pin, then heat the pin with a soldering iron. The heat thins the epoxy and draws it down into the hole. In slow motion; you heat the pin and watch the epoxy bead; it does nothing, you wait, then all of a sudden the bead shrinks as it's "slurped" down the hole. Remove the heat, you don't want the epoxy to boil. Why use epoxy? In the "pecking order" of adhesives I've come to accept epoxy as superior, and for moisture proofing, well, in honesty I haven't tried a coat of CA on the keel of my boat,.. You mentioned "mess" Fred, and in my experience as well, the CA can creep a bit. The epoxy applied as above will also leave a residue. However, it tends to be a neat, thin, donut-shaped, film collar around the pin, and does not interfere with string seating. Try both, pick your own favorite! BTW, I have a new "Murphy" for y'all: The one time you actually bond skin to an object with CA, a simple formula will place the "de-bonder" as proportionately far from your reach as the nearest human being is from ear-shot, and the weight of the object you've united yourself with, at approximately 3 times your lifting ability! :>) Have a nice weekend! Mark Cramer Brandon University -----Original Message----- From: owner-caut@ptg.org [mailto:owner-caut@ptg.org]On Behalf Of Fred Sturm Sent: Friday, February 22, 2002 10:21 AM To: caut@ptg.org Subject: CA on bridge pins (was Re: false beats) Roger, Thanks for the tip on paper towels. I'll try it. Fineness of applicator tip doesn't seem to make much difference with the extra thin - it just wants to run, and will. What I generally do is tap the pins on a whole section, blow off dust (it gets loosened by the tapping), apply CA to all the front pins in the section, then wipe vigorously with a rag. Works wonders on the 20 year old Young Chang in the church. Shines up the bridge real nice <g>. Frankly, I don't think the bit of CA between string and bridge makes a dimes worth of difference. And that 10 - 15 minutes saves 20 minutes fussing with unisons the same day, let alone subsequent tunings. I've been reluctant to do this on fancier pianos with picky customers, though. Generally just tap those (often heel of palm on a combo handle with brass rod inserted - dimple on end). Helps, but not as much as with CA as well. Regards, Fred Sturm University of New Mexico
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