[CAUT] VS Profelt

[Ed Sutton]

Nick's formula was made of fabric softener and rubbing alcohol, which is 
about 30% water. he called for liberal soaking into the shoulders. I used it 
successfully for a while, until I applied it to a set of new Baldwin 
hammers. As I got to note 88 I looked back and watched as the hammers went 
"pop" up the scale.
As for VSP, I wonder about the wisdom of applying even tiny amounts of 
silicone to a hammer surface that contacts wound strings. Silicone likes to 
travel, and the inpacts and vibrations should give it plenty of help. I 
worked in a school where my predecessor believed in applying silicone to the 
bridges "to help the strings slide." All of the bass strings were dead on 
those pianos.
Ed S.

Fred wrote:
> I got some unscented fabric softener (hard to find), and will do a  bit of 
> experimentation on things like hard dampers and hammers. As I  wrote in an 
> earlier post, Nick Gravagne swore by alcohol and fabric  softener for 
> those rock hard hammers. I never got around to trying.  For dampers, I 
> would try more water in the formulation. Certainly the  silicone is 
> useless for both applications.
> At $12 a quart, VSP is too pricey for my wallet unless it turns out  to be 
> very extra special indeed, if I can buy a lifetime supply of  softener for 
> $5, and use either powdered teflon or Protek for  lubrication. I'll be 
> trying it out to see whether it out-performs  "homebrew." Or steaming and 
> heated cauls for key bushings.
> Regards,
> Fred Sturm
> University of New Mexico
> fssturm at unm.edu
>
>
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