[Lance Lafargue]

Fritz,

Better not to use WD40.  Especially sprayed.  Lower the pitch on the string
slightly then pull up being careful not to pull any higher than neccessary.
If you must, paint on Liquid Wrench with a small artist brush on the
pressure bar being carefull not to do anything that would allow it to wick
to the block or bass windings.  If you do not pull strings up too high, you
will seldom break a string..it happens to me rarely, and often times it
happens on strings that gave no indication of being weak, not the rusty
ones.  Avoid oil near a piano like the plague.

P.S. Take a look in the archives for more info.

Lance Lafargue, RPT
Mandeville, LA
New Orleans Chapter


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pianotech@ptg.org [mailto:owner-pianotech@ptg.org]On Behalf
Of fwilliam@collegeclub.com
Sent: Sunday, August 08, 1999 6:28 PM
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Subject:


List,
     I have a question about WD 40 spray.  I recently tuned an 1885
upright that had suffered from string breakage and 20 years of non-tuning.
In accordance with the manuel, I taped a thick paper over the pins and
carefully sprayed WD 40 onto the pressure bar and upper bridge.  No
strings broke as I tuned this piano.  This worked well, but I'm very
cautions about WD 40 and pianos.  Am I right in my concern?  Should I do
this more regularly on 80+ year old pianos to reduce the risk of string
breakage?

Tomarrow I'll be tuning another upright that was never pulled up to A440
pitch.  It was built in 1936 and hasn't been tuned for about 5 years.
There is some rust on the pins and strings, but I've seen and tuned worse.
Do you folks think I should lubricate the bridge and pressure bar of this
piano?

-Fritz William Herrick, piano technician
Greenville ME, Montreal PQ.


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