Decomposing key leads

[Wimblees at aol.com]

In a message dated 9/24/07 10:19:37 A.M. Hawaiian Standard Time,  
JD at Pianomaker.co.uk writes:

At 05:36  -0400 24/9/07, Wimblees at aol.com wrote:

>...SoÊif these leads are  oxidizing in just a few years, then 
>wouldn'tÊnew leadsÊdo the same  thing in a couple of years, 
>consideringÊwhere the piano is  located?

No, unless the new leads were as impure as the  originals.  Good lead 
does not oxidize like that.  For over 100  years action makers and 
keymakers have from time to time been sold bad  lead and used it 
probably without thinking of the need to have it  analysed.  There is 
no excuse nowadays for not making sure the lead  is pure.  Only 
certain pianos from certain eras are prone to this  problem.  For 
example I was called out to a ca. 1910 Bechestein not  long ago where 
the oxidation was so bad that all the keys and damper  bodies were 
jammed together.  I have just taken in a 1923 Bechstein  that has no 
sign of oxidation.  Both pianos have spent their lives at  the 
sea-side, but that is hardly relevant.  I've just removed perfect  
leads from an upright of 1875 which had spent its life in Liverpool,  
one of the most industrialised  sea-ports.

JD


 
I wonder if there is something else going on here besides the quality of  the 
leads. I just recently had the same problem with a 30 year old Kimball  
grand. The leads were so bad that none of the keys worked. I wound up breaking  off 
3 hammers taking the action out, because the keys wouldn't come up. And I  
have just done a set of keys from a 20 year old K&C console with a  dampp-chaser 
inside. 
 
Why would some key leads corrode, and not others, even from the same  
company? 
 
Willem (Wim)  Blees, RPT
Piano Tuner/Technician
Honolulu, Hawaii
Author, "The  Business of Piano Tuning".
available from Potter  Press.
www.pianotuning.com



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