Chewing Tin Foil (Longish)

[Paul E. Dempsey]

Hello List,

I've been making my living servicing pianos for over thirty years now and
it still amazes me when I stumble on to something that makes the work
easier that I should have thought of years ago,but instead.... have been
doing it the hard way.

I found a new trick today for applying Protek and I want to pass it on to
the list. Use it or not..enjoy.

The task was to treat EVERY  center in an upright action, hammer
flanges,jacks,   and damper lever flanges. This is not my favorite job.

After ascertaining that Protek was the best choice I began to think about
the various methods of application.... eye dropper, hypodermic syringe,
small brush, handy little oiler thingy. None of these seemed to want to
make this chore any less unpleasant.

Eye dropper........constant refilling,difficulty getting in between flanges
Hypo syringe.......Glass ones have a nasty habit of breaking when you drop
them on the floor, plastic type don't seem to be compatible with Protek
(the plunger seizes up)
small brush......hmmmmm,let's see...that's 330 set of bushings........
'nough said.
handy little oiler thingy...... every one I've ever had leaked!!

I had just about decided to forget the job and do something fun, like
chewing tin foil or doing case touch-up.  I opted for case touch-up. And
there it was.....

In my touch-up kit I have a small air brush set up, the kind that uses cans
of compressed air or CO2 as a propellant. Also, I have a number of small 2
oz. jars that hold lacquer, thinner, etc.

The air brush throws a very small pattern that is adjustable down to a
circle approx. 1/8" in diameter. The amount of material is also adjustable
and controllable.

I used a clean,empty jar, filled it up with Protek and started spritzzing.
I could aim between the damper lifters and hit the hammer butt flanges
easily (those are the most difficult to get to (see). Wippen flanges,
damper lever flanges, jacks. It took less than 15 minutes to do the WHOLE
action. It WORKS, too....which is always a good thing

There is very little over spray and what there is should not be a problem.
Of course, you certainly would not want to do this while the action is in
the piano.

Anyway, there it is. Sorry if this was a little long. At least it wasn't a
quote of a quote of a quote of someone elses quote of a
quote..................

Paul E. Dempsey
Piano Tuner/Technician
Marshall University
Huntington, WV
dempsey@ramlink.net