Hi Isaac, I agree that re-fluffing felts, whether keybushing, wippen heel or other, doesn't constitute "real re-conditioning," in the sense I would use that in dealing with individual customers. And the effectiveness of steaming is a lot less with older felt, whether because of loss of resilience or wear. I look on these techniques as a way of taking a relatively small amount of time to maintain as new a feel as possible in a piano for as long as possible. Mostly I'm talking about a fairly new piano, or bushings that are within five to ten years old. After one to five years, a bushing job that was initially firm has usually started to feel sloppy. Removing the keys, steam-sizing the bushings, polishing and lubing the pins, all together this will improve the performance of the piano, keeping it at a high level longer. ANd I think brushing, steaming, ironing and lubing (powdered teflon is what I use) the wipp cushions, together with polishing and lubing the capstans, is another good way to prolong the high level of performance. I'm talking about a couple extra hours work, here, and my experience so far tells me it is a worthwhile investment. The ideal for institutional maintenance is to keep pianos in "like new," top condition, all the time. With private customers, it is far more likely that the piano deteriorates a good bit more before they are willing to invest money for a "reconditioning." At which time I would be far more likely to rebush and replace wipp cushion felt. Regards, Fred Sturm Universidad de Nuevo Mexico --On Wednesday, July 23, 2003 11:26 AM +0200 Isaac sur Noos <oleg-i@noos.fr> wrote: > 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 >> -- >> _______________________________________________ >> caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives >> > > _______________________________________________ > caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
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