Hi Catriona! Sounds like they've already spent more that its' worth, I fear! 1/8" grooves tells me the hammers are spent. replacing center pins alone might or might not help with the vertigris, it's the bushings also causing the problems....graphite is a magnet for more gunk to build up... I hope they understand that this piano may be at the end of its' useful life and your work is only going to last for a short time. Is it a "family heirloom" kind of situation? Those are hard to deal with..(ask me how I know this!). How does it tune, or have you tried that yet? You better make sure it's tunable before going any further!! Even at a lower than standard pitch. Where was the pitch when you started on this project? 30 years is a really long time, almost too long on an old piano....But I could be wrong. For lubricants, I would use some protek on the contact points at the V-bar, bridge pins and bass string termination points, but just a micro-dot of it. How much rust exists on the strings/coils, etc? I advise this with much conservative opinion, being very shy of taking on big projects with an old worn out piano!! Also, what does pt stand for? An acronym (spelling anyone?) can only be put at the end of your name if your an RPT! If you're not an RPT, go get your upgrade to RPT. There's plenty of ways to go get tested!! Do it this year. The costs are going way up next year! :>) I hope this helps! Best of luck! Paul T. Williams RPT Piano Technician School of Music 5 Westbrook Bldg. University of Nebraska Lincoln, NE 68588-0100 pwilliams4 at unl.edu Caitriona Ireland <catrionna2001 at yahoo.com> Sent by: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org 11/13/2008 01:32 PM Please respond to pianotech at ptg.org To pianotech at ptg.org cc Subject Re: [pianotech] lubricants What lubricants to use where in reconditioning an upright action in 1909/10 production run Conway Boston & Company full size upright, serial number 16691. The action was extremely dusty almost unplayed for 30 years, before that never much played at all. Hammers have 1/8 grooves have retained most of factory shape, flanges are all not loose, no screws loose, dampers all functional after cleaning thoroughly, damper rod not bent, pedals regulated, spoons and most of action needs regulation. Graphite has been used on much of the action friction points,piano located in a semi-arid area of Western Montana, USA, with mild winters some rain and a little snow sometimes, summers moderate to hot. Piano has remained in same building for most of its life and has been indoors all of its life except for moved from original owners house in current area to present location in same local area. I am cleaning the action thoroughly. The action has had liquids pop, etc., spilled on it in the upper soprano and upper tenor areas, have removed corrosion/verdigris and dust from most of the action now. I have replaced all springs (jack, damper and hammer butt springs, replaced all bridle straps, replaced corroded center pens and felts, renewed felts as much as possible, replaced where absolutely necessary, leathers are only slightly worn. I am currently regulating action, will then lube; also I have repaired and reconditioned keys and key bed with new felt and paper punchings, set height, key dip,leveled keys and regulated lost motion, have yet but will regulate rest of action. The clients don't what to spend a lot reconditioning their piano a wise choice for a Conway Boston & Company upright piano. Sincerely Annalee Smith, PT Katrina -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20081113/41ff46e9/attachment-0001.html>
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