Lacquer thiunner or starter fluid vs.111 trichloroethane for cleaning parts and bushing cloth..

[gordon stelter]

I've done a lot of players, and have found lacquer
thinner to be very good for verdigris removal (
soaking valves in gallon paint cans of the stuff ), 
so I wonder why you'd use 
111 trichloroethane ???  Soaking the wippens in
lacquer thinner also ought to rinse out whatever it
was that Steinway used as a lubricant which reacts
with the center pins and causes the verdigris, and to
dissolve a lot of the exterior dirt without
sandblasting or using the Super-Clean (TM) method.  
    Super-Clean (TM) truly works wonderfully, but is
probably not a good idea on a fine grand. I use it
primarily for filthy, unavailable player piano wippens
where a little distortion of the center pin bore is
not a crisis. I'd be worried about grain-induced
"ovalization" of this hole on a fine "hand-play"
piano.       
     I'd put as many wippens into a metal gallon paint
cans as I could, fill them up and let them soak for a
day. Then I'd shake them  around and pour the dirty
thinner into other cans through a strainer. 
     Starting fluid ( ether ) is also less nasty than 
111 trichloroethane. I have used it to blast out
centers 
( it comes with that groovy little red tube ) and it
seems to work quite well. 
    I have some REALLY gooey and moldy Steinway
wippens to experiment on, so I'll try a few things and
report what seems to work best.

     G



--- Nichols <nicho@zianet.com> wrote:

> Well, Dale, as we say here-bouts........ Nada. Zip.
> No-ting.
> We replace the cloth and the pins, and we haven't
> had any problems. Perhaps 
> our 18% ambient RH helps. Don't know. We've been
> rebushing S&S verdigris 
> parts for six years, although much more in the last
> year, and haven't 
> gotten any feedback about re-infection. In years
> past (30ish), I never had 
> any problem even when I just repinned, so long as I
> washed the cloth with 
> 1,1,1, TCE. Not the friendliest stuff to have
> around, but effective and 
> safe when used carefully.
> If you'd like, I'll send you a sample, and you can
> try to induce verdigris 
> in your climate. It would be neat to find out, no?
> I agree that using the high quality original, (often
> lighter), part is nice 
> when the geometry is right. I really like whips from
> the teens and 
> twenties. The sandblasting doesn't make them white,
> and I would hate to use 
> bleach, but they look just fine. All new cloth and
> skin, burnished jack 
> tips and balance, etc.
> 
> Again, let me know if you want a sample. I guess
> that goes for anyone that 
> has a serious interest, although I can imagine
> Salvador's face when I tell 
> him we need to do another couple of hundred
> freebies!
> 
> Later,
> Guy Nichols
> 
> 
> 
> 
> At 11:53 AM 12/27/2005 -0500, you wrote:
> >   Guy wrote
> >      Shameless plug on the wippens. If you're not
> switching heels or
> >turbo-izing, consider having them rebuilt. In a lot
> of cases, the weight
> >and geometry of the original is good, and we
> completely rebuild a whole set
> >for about 400 bucks. Sandblasted, all new bushing
> felts, heel cloth,
> >springs, buttons, etc., etc. Like I said, shameless
> plug.
> >
> >    Hi Guy
> >     Yes but what have you done to neutralize the
> green goo,..green 
> > slime... verti-green fuzzy stuff , ...green
> grit....... Steinway curse.
> >    Ahh ,Yes I've done this to shanks including re
> bushing & it comes back 
> > in less than a year,  what a waste of time.  And
> as  for the wippens  if 
> > it comes back then  I've spent $400 for what
> .......eg-zacctly?
> >  Guy , In principle I love this idea because
> except for the green shluck 
> > these are perfectly good  & expensive Maple parts
> were all throwing out. 
> > Know what I mean?
> >   Maybe we could figure out a cheap way to just
> cut off the birds eye & 
> > insert a new one  with uncontaminated wood & voila
> I can use all those 
> > old parts I've saved for years.
> >   Tell me more about how you neutralized the green
> schtuff. You got my 
> > attention.  again
> >    Sincerely
> >    Dale Erwin
> 



		
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