Vertegris

[Farrell]

Hi gang. I know this subject is beat to death, but this was the first time I
have seen vertegris (sp?). 1020s Steinway M. Original condition - OK for 80
years. Clearly the first time action has come out in many years. Lady had
not played it in years. Son-in-law came over recently and tried to play it
but all the hammers just stayed up at the strings.

She just wanted to be able to play it. I told her there are a couple of
bandaid techniques that can last from one day up to perhaps a year, but the
only way to permanently fix the problem is to replace hammer shanks and
flanges (plus it would only make sense to replace hammers and knuckles also)
(reps/wips appear unaffected).

The vertegris appears to acually have a crystalline form. It was sticking
out from every flange center growing out sideways and between each of two
adjacent flange centers the green goo had merged. Awesome looking stuff.

Anyway, the question - just curious. As she wanted to not spend even one
nickel more than that which was required to make the hammers go up and down
(she was not worried about friction evenness etc. - she was like 90 years
old). I simply lubricated with ProTek, telling her this is a cheap first try
and might not work at all, might work for a day, and might work for some
number of months.

How long does a lube job last for Vertegris commonly? Is one day to a year a
fair statement?

Terry Farrell
Piano Tuning & Service
Tampa, Florida
mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com