Steinway Drinking

[Roger Jolly]

Hi Jim,
           Is mineral spirits, almost pure methanol?  If so it can soften a
hammer down quite radically.
Roger.J


At 08:08 AM 28/03/00 -0500, you wrote:
>
>In a message dated 3/28/2000 7:29:00 AM, you wrote:
>
><<So far it looks like nobody knows what mineral spirits will do to a
>Steinway pinblock or action.
>
>Any guesses out there?>>
>
>Well Roger since "guesses" are acceptable :-)
> The mineral spirits make a lubricating/sizing  action take place in the 
>action centers..,as you have discovered and reported and will eventually, 
>many years down the road, possibly lead to the formation of verdigris in 
>those affected parts. (this based on experience following a tech who years 
>ago thought mineral spirits was a magic elixir and used it very copiously on 
>'everything'...most of what he treated has developed some degree of 
>verdigris...even in those instruments where it is not commonly found.) Other 
>than these two thingees and some 'staining' I would not "guess" the mineral 
>spirits to be a problem but I haven't seen the 'damage' :-)
> The pin block is a very different matter though. I would "guess" that 
>initially the pins in the affected area would be less tight 'feeling' than 
>normal. After the mineral spirits has dried sufficiently I would "guess"
that 
>some degradation of torque values would be apparent and as the block dries 
>out as much as it ever will I would expect the affected pins to develop a 
>snapping/jerky feel...but that is just a guess based on SWAG rather than 
>experience.
>Jim Bryant (FL)
> 
Roger Jolly
Saskatoon, Canada.
306-665-0213
Fax 652-0505