At 19:24 -0500 6/11/07, Cal Munson wrote: >I am going to be replacing the hammers and shanks on a 1939 >Steinway 'S' and possibly the wippens too. All parts are original. >Vertigris is quite evident in the hammer flanges and they are very >stiff. The wippens appear much less affected though I did not have >the time to do a thorough inspection. I assume that these will >eventually develop a vertigris problem as well and am looking for >some confirmation that I can pass along to my customer. I can't understand why anyone should suggest fitting new whippens. It sounds to me as if you just need to re-centre or at the very most re-bush and re-centre, since if by "vertigris" you mean verdigris, then you are talking of oxidation round the centre pins that has made them stiff. The cost of a set of new wippens will be very high, they probably won't be an exact match, and there is nothing to be gained by replacing them except the nice white-looking wood that will never be seen anyway. JD
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