super glue battle

[Paul S. Larudee]

Burndkrisp@AOL.COM wrote:
> 
> List, I am a newbie to this wonderful world of piano tuning. I have read with
> great interest the discussions on using C.A. glue to repair pin blocks. I tend
> to think better using the letters SG instead of CA, because CA is to hard to
> remember. (I too peel the lables off and put on a computer print out lable
> that reads "S.G." It looks really proffessional & good.)
>  I have one older customer that has a Steinway "l" or "m", I can't remember.
> Nice old couple, but the piano was horrible. It had been in S Florida for many
> years according to the lady. A fella named "Mr. Ford" sold them this piano a
> long time ago. Claimed it had a gold plate and they paid extra for it. Well, I
> came to tune it and it had some really "funny" pins that I would tune and then
> later come back and they were out of tune again. Not a lot but just enough to
> put the piano out of tune again. I had to pull really hard on the tuning pin
> to get it to move, but when it did move it jumped right up to pitch.  After
> three times through it was still falling short of the mark on my Korg digital
> tuner. This is when the trouble started.
>         I had promised them I would get their piano right. I have set as my goal,
> every piano tuned perfectly at 440.   I figure that'll get me some work and it
> did. They were real impressed when I showed them the needle on my tuner go
> right to 440 when I turned the tuning pin. Well anyway, it being a Sunday and
> all, I was tired after four hours and the d**m thing was still reading below
> 440 on my tuner!!!!!!  Well, now I wanted to get it right and leave and get
> paid and all that. So I braved up and told them it would only be one more time
> through and it would be right at 440.  Now this is where I got really
> professional and I told them that it won't hold a tuning anymore because the
> pins won't hold their tune. I told them I would put some SG on the pins and
> wait for a few minutes before I tuned it again. At this time the clock says it
> 4 pm, so I figure I can put on a coat of this SG and wait about 20 minutes
> (beer time!!) go back and tune it . Meantime I just smooze with the Mr. & Mrs.
> and make big bucks while I wait. So I put the SG on the plate and watch it
> soak in around the holes. Not all of it is going in though? Some of it stays
> on the plate? I run out of the stuff around the mid treble and figure I'm
> making good money now I should go to the model shop and get a bigger bottle
> before it closes at 5.  When I come back I decide to check on my work. I tune
> the a to 440 again and this time the pin won't budge? Finally after a lot of
> wiggling I get a pin to move but it breaks a string! So now I decide that I
> should've tuned the piano while I was tuning so the pins would "set" in the
> right position. So before I get any farther into the string changing I start
> to tune again. This time I don't put the SG on until I have tuned it to the
> right spot.  Anyway I come back to where the string has broken and start to
> fix it.  I am going to back the pin out three turns ( was told 2  1/2, but
> three always works better, then you just hit it down until its even). So I
> start turning and the tuning hammer pops off the pin and slams into the lid
> lifter, cracking it. (man can you believe this? I've never had this bad of
> luck). Well I get the pin to turn out but by the time it gets to the third
> turn the head is so mangled my tuning hammer barely stays on it, So I decide
> to take it completely out and replace it with a "new pin". The one I am taking
> out was blue, but I show the couple the new one and get them to ok a silver
> pin. Now when I put in the new one it barely fits? Well since I know how to
> use SG I can put in any pin and just "SG" it.  So I have to take out the
> action to make sure the SG doesn't drip on the hammers. I pull the action. Man
> it's got some black s**t all over the bottom of it and my hands are still
> black! But I didn't see the black stuff until I set it on the couch which is
> of course, white!  (I carry peroxide and I can get that stain out. They know
> this and when I come back for the check up I'll fix it). So, I put the SG in
> and put my finger over the bottom of the tuning pin hole to make sure it
> doesn't come out. All is fine and good until I shoot it with the fixer. Man I
> had the shock of my life! All of a sudden my finger is on fire! I can't take
> it from the hole because the SG is holding it in place! It's burning like
> hell.  And I can't budge it. I try wiggling it round and round, but the skin
> just stays stuck!!!! I want to scream but I am in someone elses house. Finally
> the pain stops, but I still can't move my finger. I start to think about what
> I am going to do when the lady walks in. I quickly stop grimacing and tell her
> everything is almost finished but that I have to wait for the SG to set and so
> on. She says that her & her husband go to bed at 8 pm and could I just come
> back in the morning. I come up with a great one. I tell her that this process
> has to be completed in one day or otherwise it'll be "defective". So they wait
> up.
>         Meanwhile I think an finally come up that a good lube will do the job and
> sure enough I got some of this white oil. I rub it all over the finger and
> just massage it until my finger starts to peel off. Whew!  I don't know what
> white oil is but it's really good stuff. I use it all the time for pedal
> squeaks and things like that. I'll ask my man where he get's it. The guy I
> worked with used to mix it in a bottle and spray it when he couldn't find a
> squeak. I don't do that, but I just keep squirtin' till it stops making noise.
> Works!
>         So now it's 8:30 I only got two and a half octaves to go. I tell the lady
> I'll be done in about 45 minutes. She says great and asks if she could pay me
> now so they could go to bed.  Victory!   Of course, I tell her. And then I let
> her know I will do the "check up" for free.  I finish tuning the piano in
> about twenty minutes. Now most of the piano is at 440, but not all.
>         Question(s) Should I use more SG and tune it again on the free check up? How
> tight should the pins really be? I checked with my tourque wrench and all of
> the pins go off the dial. Can they still slip even when I can't budge them?
> What is the black stuff? What will remove it from the furniture if peroxide
> doesn't work?
> 
> Wayne S.
> Central Florida
> 
That's a really sad story, but I'm glad you posted it, if only as a
warning to others.  I knew there was a good reason I refused to listen
to any of you guys using CA glue on pin blocks.  And oil?  The only
place for oil is a salad.  Only solution is a new pin block and
restringing - at your expense or heavily discounted.  If your customers
are willing to contribute something to the cost because they are going
to end up with a better piano, that's great, but the piano's trash
otherwise.  I don't recommend peroxide on the couch, either.

Paul S. Larudee, RPT
Richmond, CA