Baldwin 'leather' question

[Billbrpt@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 8/15/99 7:52:02 AM Pacific Daylight Time, you write:

<< I heard from another tech that the synthetic leather can click like
 this, even though it feels gooey and sticky to the touch. Is this true? Can
 that black 'leather' cause clicks just by being what it is?
 Ken Jankura RPT >>

You can take it as a given that if the action has either kind of synthetic 
buckskin used during the 80's, the "black stuff" or the lighter colored 
stuff, the Corfam, that the clicking or other noise problem is with this 
material.  While it is true that similar noises can be caused by other 
problems such as loose flange screws, loose pinning or loose glue joints, you 
will need to replace the old and defective butt and catcher materials in any 
case.  When doing this operation, you can check each hammer assembly as you 
have it in your hands for loose pinning and/or glue joints.

Replacing this material will be a long, tedious, perhaps even boring job that 
can easily take an entire day so you should advise the customer that it will 
cost at least as much as you normally would earn in a full day of tuning, say 
4 pianos.  You will have to take each hammer off, remove the old material, 
glue the new material firmly and well into place without having any glue 
squeeze into any other material that is supposed to remain soft such as the 
butt felt.

There was a good article written about this in the PTG Journal a couple of 
years ago.  As for the kind of glue you would use, this is an important 
consideration.  It used to be that Baldwin would accept a set of hammers and 
have a factory worker do them.  It cost $75.00 and I considered it well worth 
the price to take the hammers off, box them up and send them out to be done 
by someone with good skill and experience in doing this. 

It was enough of a job to take them off and put them back on (while checking 
for loose pinning and glue joints, which was usually not a problem) and to 
travel and align the hammers back to the strings and reshape them.  I could 
even take a mark up on the fee that I paid, very much like sending a set of 
keys out to be recovered.  Now however, Baldwin no longer offers this 
service.  If it is going to be done, the piano technician must do it.

Many have suggested that CA glue be used for this job.  At the Baldwin 
factory, that is what they used.  However, CA glue gives off strong, 
hazardous fumes and it can easily get out of your control and into other 
material where you don't want or need it, namely the butt felt.  If the butt 
felt gets CA or any other kind of glue in or on it, it will cause virtually 
the same click that you are hearing now.  You can do a whole job and end up 
with virtually the same problem as you started out with if you allow it to 
happen.  Also, if glue gets on the replacement butt material, it will again 
make the same or similar noise.

So, you need to be properly set up with good cross ventilation and a 
respirator mask and goggles are highly suggested.  If you use CA glue, it 
will not be very sticky at first, so you will have trouble getting the pieces 
to stay where you want them to.  I always used the accelerator in a 
hypo-oiler applicator (not the aerosol pump) to cause the glue to cure 
instantly.  But this is where the toxicity part comes in to play.

I have not done this repair for a couple of years so I have not tried an 
interesting alternative that I read about on this List maybe about a year ago 
by Susan Kline.  Apparently, she discovered that two glues that you would 
think would be totally incompatible actually work very well together.  
Apparently, moisture or maybe whatever else there is in a common white or 
yellow craft glue normally used for wood will cause the CA glue to cure 
rather quickly.

The idea is to coat one surface thinly and evenly with the CA glue and the 
other with the white or yellow glue.  When the two are joined, they will 
slick together right away and cure quickly.  I think the idea is to put the 
CA glue on the butt and catcher then put a thin coat of the white or yellow 
glue on the new material and carefully place and press together.  Removal of 
all of the old material is important and not having too much glue on either 
surface so that you don't have it squeezing or dripping out is important too.

If you leave the new surface lumpy or uneven, it will change the dimensions 
of the piece you are working on and make regulation difficult.  As I 
mentioned before, if you get glue squeeze into material where it is not 
intended, it will also make noise.  You may find it just as easy to strip 
away all of the old butt felt squares as well and replace them with new ones 
after you have finished the butt material replacement.

I hope Susan will help elaborate on this.  You can have a gratifying 
experience and a very satisfied customer who will feel that the money was 
very well spent if you get the job done well and properly.  The action will 
be a silent as one could possibly be and have ecellent response with the new, 
springy butt material in place rather than the old, worn and hardened 
material.  Take your time and do it thoroughly, well and properly, piece by 
piece.

Good Luck,
Bill Bremmer RPT