Stringing Scales/least of problems

[Les Smith]

An interesting post, Bill! Personally, when restringing, I like to use a
pin driving fluid because of the "feel" it imparts to the pins once it
has dried. In an earlier thread I believe it was pointed out that these
are essentially a high-quality spar varnish. Whatever, it works for me!

Les Smith
lessmith@buffnet.net

On Fri, 23 Aug 1996, William Bailer wrote:

> On Fri, 23 Aug 1996, Newton Hunt wrote:
>
> > ...  I use talc or corn starch on my hands and dip the pin into same
> >to absorb any moisture or oils off the pins.  I have very few jumpy
> >pins thereafter. ...
> >	Newton
>
> Newton,
> I'll BET you have "very few jumpy pins", talc is a LUBRICANT! :=)
>
> I propose that the manufacturers use gloves because they have found that
> "powders" don't work.
>
> There seems to be some confusion about "talcum powder", which I will
> attempt to clear up.  "Bath" type talcum powder usually contains talc
> and corn starch, the function of each being entirely different:
>
> Talc is a translucent crystaline mineral dug out of the earth--  which
> is ground up into powder.  It does not absorb any water or oils at all,
> it's only function is as a lubricant, and as a coating on the skin that
> prevents other things (like the opposing side of your arm pit) from
> sticking to it.  It may be of some benefit in protecting strings from
> the oils and salt in ones skin, in that it gets stuck to that oil and
> prevents the string from sticking to it.  I cannot see how this could be
> effective for more than a few minutes without constant renewal, since it
> is so easilly knocked off.  In any case, the talc is harmless to the
> strings.  It's use in the piano trade has been primarilly as a lubricant
> to replace graphite where one doesn't want the "black", such as grand
> keybeds to facilitate the shifting keyboard.  I can't see that it could
> do anything for a tuning pin except to make it slippery!
>
> Corn starch, as well as any other food starch, does absorb water, but
> very little-- it also would have to be constantly renewed during the
> course of stringing in order to be effective.  I believe that it is
> actually destructive, because some of it is certain to transfer to the
> strings, and then hold moisture on the string!  In fact, if you sprinkle
> corn starch on a scrap roll of wire, it will CAUSE rust stains! On a
> tuning pin, it probably has no effect different from that of the wood
> that it contacts in the pin block.
>
> To strip oil off of a surface (like a tuning pin) machinists use a
> solvent called "degreaser".  For all I know, paint thinner or acetone
> may work just as well.  Just dip the pin, the solvent evaporates
> quickly, and it is extremely clean.
>
> Personally, I have heard no scientifically based use for starch in piano
> work, and talc only as a lubricant.
>
> Any more ideas out there?  Any chemists?
> Bill Bailer
>
> \\\  William Bailer ("Bill")
> \\\  Rochester, NY, USA;  Phone (voice): 716-473-9556
> \\\  wbailer@concentric.net (same mailbox as wbailer@cris.com)
> \\\  Some interests: acoustics, JS Bach, anthropology, & education.
>
>
>