Decomposing key leads

[Farrell]

I agree with both these responses. I either grind the excess off or slice it off with a chisel. I've never painted them with anything. A few of these pianos I have serviced for five or more years after trimming the key leads and have not found them to grow back. No doubt that they may over time, but most pianos with this problem are well past their prime anyway and will never see rebuilding, so it seems to me that trimming/grinding is a very cost-effective solution when you can't talk the owner into sending the piano off to that great concert hall in the sky. And yeah, don't breathe the dust - chiseling is probably the better option.

If the piano is worth the extra expense, then of course, replace leads. Or maybe we need to improve Front Weights???????, etc., etc.

Terry Farrell

> That is lead oxide, a common phenomenon particularly in coastal environments.  
> 
> You can absolutely smooth it down, BUT observe great care as you don't want to be spreading lead powder about or breathing it.     Wear a mask and gloves, and be sure you contain the powder you sand off.   You don't need to wire brush it off, just sand it off.
> 
> You could certainly try hitting it up with a dab of lacquer.
> 
> Anne

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  I noticed on the last tuning of this piano that all the key leads are starting to get covered over with that white fluffy powder that indicates decomposition. My first thought was that the owners of this inexpensive piano would never go for key lead replacement. Besides, it's probably too soon in the process to think in that direction. My next thought was to take all the keys out and soft-wire brush the powder off the ends of the leads and then seal them off with some clear spray paint of some kind. Lacquer, Rust-O-Leum, AquaNet, whatever. Anything to hopefully stall the process. And then I realized that the wiser thing to do would be to bring the subject up here first. So, any thoughts? Any suggestions?

    -- Geoff Sykes
    -- Los Angeles
  We have a lot of this here in Hawaii. I've been instructed to use a chisel to cut off the lead that is outside the width of the key, and then, as you alluded to, instead of lacquer, seal it with spray shellac. You want to also look at the other side of the key. Sometimes the lead will push the wood out, but not all the way through. So with your chisel, remove excess wood. It is advisable to wear a mask to avoid breathing in any lead particles. 

  Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20070923/87ccefa5/attachment.html