steam and heat, was RE: amazing, but true

[Isaac sur Noos]

I've find that steaming the whippen heel does not stay very long,
probably once the fiber have been crushed it is not as stiff, it
helps, but it is a temporary fix. Indeed you should believe that with
a fast steam pass you will not have to regulate the hammer travel, but
you will have to do it - months later so it is not so good in the end.

I only tried that on a few instruments (4 or  5) are others
experimenting the same results ?

I've done that on mortises too, on recent ones this should be a
possibility, but the material stay fragile if it is on old keys.
It can help but it is not a real reconditioning job in my opinion I
will see an old instrument I've done this last year (time for new
bushings this year) .

The felt after some wear is less strong, the trick is probably good
for recent parts only.

For damper felts it may be interesting to clean or rejuvate them.

Another thing we should consider is that many bushing cloths actually
are not wool and cotton, (or wool and silk !) I don't know for sure if
nylon is reacting to the vapor, but one may consider it.

Best Regards



Isaac OLEG

Entretien et reparation de pianos.

PianoTech
17 rue de Choisy
94400 VITRY sur SEINE
FRANCE
tel : 033 01 47 18 06 98
fax : 033 01 47 18 06 90
cell: 06 60 42 58 77

> -----Message d'origine-----
> De : caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org]De la part de
> Mary Smith
> Envoye : mardi 22 juillet 2003 22:17
> A : College and University Technicians
> Objet : Re: steam and heat, was RE: amazing, but true
>
>
> Hi Fred,
>
> I like your idea about fluffing and ironing wippen heel
> cloth, which
> I was just contemplating on a Baldwin recondition.
>
> >Especially on Steinways, with the tiny jack tail "nub" (is there a
> >correct term for this?),
>
> I believe the term is jack "tender." Is that like a chicken
> tender? I
> agree that  uneven wear on let-off punchings is annoying, but have
> found just replacing them to be pretty quick and painless. You can
> slice them off with everything in place and reglue with
> white or PVA
> glue without even removing the top action from the keys (if you're
> careful).
>
> Also liked the method you've outlined for steaming key bushings. I
> would imagine that a just little bit of steam does the trick - too
> much could be a bad thing! The Pianotek sizing cauls are quite
> accurate, and I like to use them to finesse the easing of a
> rebushing
> job as well.
>
> Mary
> --
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