liftrod lubricant

[Tom Driscoll]

Friends,

I seem to be full of questions right now.  <G>

You may know what I'm referring to if I mention "crunchy snow."  I heard

this used to describe those many tiny ticks that occur almost 
simultaneously in an upright piano from friction between the liftrod and

the felt on the damper lever tails, as the sustain pedal is depressed.  
I have a job coming up next week where I need to solve this problem.  
What do you do or use?

I haven't done this in a while, but I used to take the liftrod out of 
the action and use a graphite spray, then burnish it and replace, and 
that worked great, even though it turned the liftrod gray.  But I can't 
find the stuff now.  I may have used it up.  Maybe the hardware stores 
have it -- I don't know.  In any case, what do you recommend?  I want a 
permanent fix.

Regards,
Clyde Hollinger

Clyde,
	Clean the rod with metal polish, Spray w/ Mclube 1725L (I'm not
in the shop and I think that's the correct #)
	Check the bushings --especially the one closest to the
dowel---replace if necessary, VJ on the hangers.
	Damper lever condition --i.e. cloth, spring seats,
springs---Aux. damper lever can also be a source of noise. 
	For a quicker fix on let's say a drop action with grommets like
rocks and only ten minutes to get to the Starbucks before the next call,
a squirt of Protek can quite things down also--Careful to protect those
Bass strings---
	Tom Driscoll RPT