[pianotech] Protek CLP question

[J Patrick Draine]

It may be possible that the Protek CLP made a very bad condition somewhat
worse, but you already had a suboptimal situation on your hands. Did you
check the wippen pinning too? Sometimes it seems OK when in the piano (and
we can blame other subpar centers), but when disassembled the wippen flange
is very very tight.Did you remove the hammers from the action and work the
flange vigorously (i.e. swing rapidly)?  Dousing the flanges without
removing the parts from the rail won't get the best results from the Protek.
On the other hand, at that point you would do well to go ahead and repin the
flange.
Patrick

On Fri, Apr 24, 2009 at 12:45 AM, Floyd Gadd <fg at floydgadd.com> wrote:

> About five years ago I applied Protek CLP to the hammer flanges of the
> treble section of a 1966 Mason and Risch console piano that had some
> sluggishness in the hammers.  I think I noticed some slight improvement, if
> I remember correctly, but as I have revisited the piano more or less
> annually the problem has become more severe.  When I tuned it a year ago,
> working through the treble section past the dampers was almost an exercise
> in futility, so I determined that next time I saw the piano, I would make
> sure I had time to address the problem in a meaningful way.
>
> I tuned the piano today.  Pulled the action first, repinned the hammer
> flanges on notes 79 to 88.  Coming out of the piano, the hammers would not
> complete a full swing. Jacks were sluggish too, but I did not address them
> this time around.  I had not lubricated the jacks in the past.
>
> The treble hammer flanges, until I repinned them, were worse than when I
> first visited the piano. I had to wonder if the CLP contributed to the
> deterioration of the action's performance over the five year term.  I would
> think that the piano would be more or less stable at the age of 38 years.
> Any ideas?
>
> Floyd Gadd
> Manitoba chapter
>
>
>
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