In this thread, I read a lot of concern about avoiding getting this solution on anything but the action center. When I attended those "factory tours" that Baldwin gave to batches of their dealer technicians fifteen years ago, at that time they were fitting all their action centers (out of the piano) with a wholesale application of their shrink mixture (alcohol/water 8/1 plus bar ivory soap slivers) by spraying a stream of mixture along the flanges and were unconcerned about getting it on surrounding leather, felt & wood. Did I misunderstand these people? What are they doing today? I was told that the alcohol pulled the water back out so fast that it couldn't hurt anything. Anybody know? Their theory was that the wood of the flange swelled and closed the center pin hole to a smaller dimension thereby pressing the bushing felt too tight around the pin. Very similarly to what glue-sizing does when used to tighten screw holes. Their description of what caused the solution to work, is that the alcohol quickly swells the wood of the flange more which makes the felt thinner. Then the alcohol quickly evaporates and removes all of the water including some that was already there in the wood. What you end up with is a slightly larger hole and a slightly thinner bushing felt that is perfectly mated together in most cases. Their final statement was if the first application didn't get it, douse it again or use another solution with more water in it. Now I went home "all aglow" that I finally had a serious solution to the endemic stickiness I continually find in "muggyland". But, as soon as I mentioned it to some other technicians in my Chapter, the instant reaction was "Oh No! You can't do that!" And they go on to tell me all their worst "nightmares" about some other chemical they had spilled on parts with horrible results. When I tried to pin them down as to whether it was pure alcohol or not they started "crawfishing" (backing up, for all you non-southerners!)all over the place! Does anybody have any concrete evidence that alcohol does anything at all to felts, glue joints, leather or anything else in the action, because I have been doing it like this for at least 10-15 years and several of these pianos I still service and find only normal wear without any deterioration that could possibly be attributed to the solution. Please advise, Warren -- Home of the Humor List Warren D. Fisher fish@communique.net Registered Piano Technician Piano Technicians Guild New Orleans Chapter 701
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