[CAUT] Tired wippens

[Fred Sturm]

Hi Paul,
	Actually, you can eliminate the dent in the top of the rep with a  
cabinet scraper. Put it in a vice, give it a quick couple pulls of a  
sharp scraper, and that can be fast and smooth. Then spray or brush  
on your favorite (I'd use McLube).
	The spring grooves can be addressed with the wipps on the rail.  
First remove all springs to one side. Put a bamboo skewer through a  
bunch of them at a time, and clean the springs with a rag soaked in  
mineral spirits. Cleaning and removing the bump from the groove can  
be done with a variety of tools, either working from the front with a  
right angled tool, or from the bottom (set the action upside down and  
work from the cushion side) with a straight tool. The tool should be  
made to have an angle similar to the shape of the groove, and should  
be sharpened with a file to create a scraping edge. I use a real  
cheap screwdriver or the like - I look around the shop until I see  
something I can make work, with luck something I used for the process  
last time <G>. Then apply McLube with a small paint brush. This can  
go quite fast if you set things up right.
	Which isn't to say don't replace in preference to doing this kind of  
thing. It's a question of priorities, where you want to put your  
parts budget. If you have enough budget, and this won't rob from  
other projects, I would probably replace.
	BTW, the gunk on the rep springs is undoubtedly graphite grease,  
plus dust of ages. I guess that graphite grease was pretty popular  
for a good while. The tech probably thought he was doing great  
things, not creating problems for his successors <G>.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu



On Nov 14, 2006, at 12:27 PM, Paul T Williams wrote:

>
> Hi List,
>
> Here's an old question from a new CAUT:  When does one finally call  
> it quits on a set of wippens?  I'm working on an old Steinway M  
> circa early thirties with the tilted capstans.  I would doubt that  
> the wippens are original, but they are definately OLD, squeeky and  
> has substantial amounts of what Steve Brady calls "gradeau" (gunk)  
> on the rep springs at the rep-lever contact/rubbing points.  They  
> also are "dented" in on the rep lever/knuckle contact point.
>
> Although it is only in a practice room, we don't have ooodles o  
> dough to replace the piano.  We can afford new wippens, or I can  
> "doctor" them one more time by cleaning and lubing all those parts  
> which would be a lot of invested time...Not much I can do about the  
> dented rep/knuckle spot though....
>
> What do y'all think?
>
> Thanks
>
> Paul T. Williams
> Univ. of Nebraska

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