Verdigris

[Horace Greeley]

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Hi, Jeannie!

At 05:26 PM 8/10/2004, you wrote:
>Horace,
>Were the jack flanges and underlever flanges also treated?

No.

When the practice started, the underlever flanges were still being glued; 
and the procedure would have interfered with that.  Traditionally (that is, 
until latter day folks came on the scene), jack pinning was deliberately 
very loose...the jacks being pinned so that the jack would (nearly) flop 
back and forth with gravity...as long as there was "not too much" 
side-to-side movement, it was considered OK.

That being said, there was, for a time, a custom-orderable 
"tropicalization" or "climatization", which had parts that were soaked with 
(variously) extremely thin lacquer or shellac (done before the 
bushings/felt/leather/etc were installed.  Those actions were most often 
recognizable by having the keybushings tacked into place with small carpet 
or upholstery tacks.  In those actions, the underlever flanges were also 
treated before installation.  I have mostly seen this on Hamburg 
instruments located outside the U.S..

Best.

Horace

>
>jeannie
>
>Jeannie Grassi, RPT
>Registered Piano Technician
>Island Piano Service
><mailto:jcgrassi@earthlink.net>mailto:jcgrassi@earthlink.net
>-----Original Message-----
>From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of 
>Horace Greeley
>Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2004 3:31 PM
>To: College and University Technicians
>Subject: Re: Verdigris
>
>
>Hi, Mayr,
>
>At 02:55 PM 8/10/2004, you wrote:
>>I think the tallow was used in the factory during a certain period. 
>>Gratefully, it didn't last long, but long enough to create many potential 
>>action rebuilds.
>
>It wasn't tallow.  It was paraffin, in which the hammer and whippen 
>support flanges were soaked.  This was followed by a liberal application 
>of whale oil, usually during the final "tone regulation".  This treatment 
>was used in the factory from very early on until some indeterminate time 
>after WWII (I've seen it in production instruments as late as the 
>mid-50's).  Yes, I know there are differing opinions on when these things 
>started and stopped.
>
>I fully concur with Jim (infra), by the way...the only real fix for these 
>parts is to throw them away and start over...anything else is an exercise 
>in futility and wasted time.
>
>Best.
>
>Horace
>
>
>
>>>I prefer new parts whenever feasible.  However, there are those times in an
>>>old piano when rebushing might be the appropriate thing to do.  Perhaps
>>>rebushing is also temporary, as Bob Davis said, but if it's still OK after
>>>25 years, and mine have been, I don't call that "temporary".  If a flange
>>>is saturated with tallow, or some other goop that someone has soaked it
>>>with in trying to lubricate it, you can bet your boots I'm not even going
>>>to try to rebush it.
>>>
>>>Jim Ellis
>>>
>>>_______________________________________________
>>>caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives

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