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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Well, I service a beautiful little =
chick that is,
methinks, no-way older than the 1920's or 30's (serial number is =
MIA) or so
and it has wooden stack brackets, plywood actually. Don't know how long =
they
used them ... anyone? A little epoxy goes a long way gluing old =
laminations
together ...</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I would take the let-off rail out of =
the action,
spray the screws and the top of the rail with WD-40 (soak it pretty =
good). Then
let all that dry thoroughly--use a heat gun (careful) or hair dryer =
if
you want to. Then take a heavy soldering iron (not the wimpy little =
electronics kind) or a pencil torch (careful) and heat each screw near =
the wood.
Don't let it get glowing-hot, just heat it enough so the heat transfers =
down
into the screw in the wood. Then gently, slowly use a reg tool to =
turn the
screw out, remove from the action and replace with new screws if they =
are
rusty.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Anyway, this has worked pretty well for =
me twice.
On a third occasion, it was so bad that I had a cabinet shop duplicate =
the
original rail in rock maple; used the old rail (now in two pieces =
after a
clumsy attempt at drill-and-plug) as a template to mark the holes. =
Drilled for
all the reg and mounting screws. Used an electric drill to run the new =
reg
screws in and screwed on new buttons and felts. It wasn't such a bad =
job, and
came out great.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I'd much rather have a treble string go =
<EM>"KWANGGGG!"</EM> when tuning than have a regulating screw go =
<EM>'penk'
</EM>while regulating.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Alan Barnard, The Voice of Limited
Experience</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>P.S. That's how they go, they go =
<EM>'penk.'</EM>
It's just so quiet no one can hear it.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; =
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: =
black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=Pianofxrguy@aol.com
href="mailto:Pianofxrguy@aol.com">Pianofxrguy@aol.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A =
title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, August 21, =
2002 8:11
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> frozen adjustment =
screws</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 =
face=Arial size=2
FAMILY="SANSSERIF">I have a customer with a Chickering grand that I =
think is
well over a hundred years old. (The action brackets are wooden.) It =
may never
have had the action regulated. I broke the first two adj. screws I =
attempted
to turn, put a few drops of Protek CLP on and tried again in a week. =
They were
still not budging. It seems like this was discussed on the list some =
time ago,
but I couldn't find the right search parameters in the search engine. =
Does
anybody have an idea of what to drip, spray, inject into the wood to =
allow
movement of the screws and, ultimately, regulation of the action? Or,
alternatively, the proper search terms for the =
archives?<BR>Thanks,<BR>John
Stroup<BR>South Bend, Ind.</FONT> </FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>