Stringing Scales/least of problems

[bwaller@sunrise.alpinet.net]

I've used powdered violin rosin to dip tuning pins into before driving them
into the pinblock.  I liked the idea of the fluid but have yet to try it.

Bruce

At 08:52 PM 8/23/96 -0400, you wrote:
>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.
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>