Verdigris on Steinway rails

Keith McGavern kam544@ionet.net
Wed, 17 Jun 1998 09:09:02 -0500 (CDT)


>If the verdigris was found only on the hammer rail, I would tend to agree with
>you.  But I have found the stuff also on the wippen rail, without the cloth.
>If it didn't come from the center pins, how did it get there?
>
>Wim

Good point!

Leave out the rail cloth and rephrase my comment to coincide with the
dictionary's meaning for verdigris: A green patina or crust of copper
sulfate or copper chloride formed on copper, brass, and bronze exposed to
air or seawater for long periods of time.

When I was in the Navy, we shined brass everyday to keep verdigris from
becoming a problem.  That was just exposure to air.  It is still my
position that verdigris on the brass rails doesn't get there by creeping or
overflowing from the flange center pins.

Keith A. McGavern
kam544@ionet.net
Registered Piano Technician
Oklahoma Chapter 731
Piano Technicians Guild
USA




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