Check PianoTek. I believe one of their tech articles describes using Trans Tint for coloring sharps. Gene ----- Original Message ----- From: Chuck Behm To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2010 5:36 AM Subject: [pianotech] Need help with TransTint Hello, everyone - I need some advice on how to best use TransTint for dying sharps. I'm writing a segment on various approaches used to refinish sharps that will appear in the September Journal, and have tried numerous products recommended by other technicians. Most of the products mentioned by others work well to varying degrees. The TransTint has given me fits, however, and I'm ready to leave it out entirely, or just recommend that it not be used. Here's the situation to date. I ordered a bottle of the stuff, and was given some recommendations over the phone by the supplier. I made the mistake of not writing everything down that I was told, which came back to haunt me later. When the TransTint arrived (in a bottle that seemed quite small for the price), I foolishly followed label directions and mixed the entire bottle with water. The effectiveness of the product when mixed according to the directions was not great, to say the least. It was simply not very opaque, at least when compared to the other products being tested (Flebing's Leather Dye, Kiwi Leather Dye, Higgins Calligraphy Ink, and General Finishes Ebony Dye Stain)/ Assuming I was doing something wrong, I called the supplier again, and told them what I was doing. "No, no, no!" was the response. Mix the TransTint with denatured alcohol, not water. Less that 50% alcohol. (I was probably told this the first time I order, but as I stated, I hadn't written anything down. My bad.) "Okay," says I. "Send another bottle." A second bottle arrived shortly after, along with the bill, and I had at it again, this time judiciously mixing half the bottle with denatured alcohol, and saving back the other half in case I blew it a second time. The results were not good at all. With the other dyes and ink being tested, drying times of 5 to 10 minutes were observed. With the TransTint formulation, the stuff was still wet the next day. When it finally did dry, two or three days later, it was splotchy in appearance. Again, I was positive that I was doing something wrong. Certainly, technicians would not be recommending this stuff if this was how it was suppose to work. With a half bottle on reserve, I made one more call to the supplier, explaining what I had done. This time I was told that I had left out shellac. You apparently need to use shellac as the base, Transtint as the colorant and denatured alcohol as the thinner. (Possibly that was mentioned in the second phone call, possibly not. I do remember that it was recommended for use when the keystick needs to be dyed, but I don't recall that it was recommended for the sharp itself.) "Aha!" said I. "What ratio?!" At this point communication became difficult, in that the supplier was either unable or unwilling to give me a simple recipe for mixing the stuff up. After asking several times for some idea of how much of each key ingrediant to mix together, I got the impression I was being stonewalled. For some reason, I was not meant to partake in this information. So, here's my question. With a half a bottle left, can anyone give me a tried and true method of using the stuff that actually produces results. Otherwise, my recommendation will be not to bother with it. I've bought 2 bottles, and don't plan to buy a third when I can't get a straight answer of how to use it. The other products are all easy to use and produce results. Given my choice, I would choose easy. Thanks for any info you can share with me. Chuck Behm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100602/d604f4d4/attachment.htm>
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