Agraffes

[Paul Kupelian]

Hi,

Of course replacing the agraffes would be the best solution.  However, if
you decide to clean them, I have found that using a buffing belt or wheel
with red
rouge does a nice job of polishing, and then follow that up with the
reaming.  

I made a neat little agraffe holder out of oak that I use to hold the
agraffe against the belt or wheel.  (I use a Delta 1" belt sander that I 
have buffing belts for.) The tool is 1" X 1/2" X 3". I sanded
it to a bevel on one end so it looks like a giant carpenters pencil.  I
drilled a hole in the center just large enough to thread the agraffe in.
Works great and I don't end up buffing my fingers even though sometimes
they may need it too (:>.

On Wed, 11 Aug 1999, Mary C. Smith wrote:

> List,
> 
> I have just encountered a Baldwin L with cat pee on the piano wire in the
> mid-range. The urine has caused considerable rusting on the pin side of the
> strings in this area, and strings are all ready starting to break. I plan to
> restring the mid-range plain wire only, as the problem is confined to this
> area, and I know the customer does not want to afford a complete
> restringing. My question is this: should I replace all or some of the
> agraffes (4 of them are polluted with crud), or should I clean and ream? If
> cleaning is recommended, what would be the best thing to use? Thanks in
> advance for input.
> 
> Mary Smith
>