String bearing point lubrication

[Geoff Sykes]

Now we just need a way to prevent the felt mute from saturating. I can just
see dipping the tip of the mute into the bottle and having the entire
contents sucked up. But the shape and the flexibility is perfect. Perhaps
just the point of a felt mute on the end of a wire?

-- Geoff Sykes
-- Assoc. Los Angeles



-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Avery
Sent: Thursday, April 06, 2006 12:33 AM
To: Pianotech List
Subject: Re: String bearing point lubrication


I just had a thought. Since they're tapered, how about those rubber 
mute shaped felt mutes?
It seems that would give a good bit of control getting behind 
something like an upright
pressure bar.

Avery Todd

At 11:09 PM 4/5/2006, you wrote:
>Hi, Geoff.
>
>I take a little 3/4" or 1" square of back rail felt and hold it in a
>pair of long tweezers - I've been using the same piece for years. I 
>then squeeze a few drops of ProTek (not Prolube) and spread it where 
>I want it, including the places you mention. It's thinner than 
>Prolube, and as soon as the solvents evaporate, it's dry.
>
>-Mark
>
>Geoff Sykes wrote:
>>Greetings all --
>>
>>I have had good success with using ProLube to lubricate the string
>>bearing points in older and/or rusty pianos. Any opportunity to 
>>reduce the risk of string breakage is alright with me. Since I 
>>don't want any of it to contaminate other parts of the piano I 
>>don't actually spray it, but have instead been using a cotton swap 
>>to apply it. I'm writing today because there just has to be a 
>>better way. Especially when you want to get some onto those contact 
>>points behind the pressure bar on a small upright. Any suggestions?
>>
>>-- Geoff Sykes
>>-- Assoc. Los Angeles