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. >> >> >> > > >
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