Noisy action

[Susan Kline]

At 12:29 PM 06/07/2001 -0500, you wrote:
>Susan
>I have a Steinway "Teflon" action on the bench right now with very noisy
>felts-jack regulating button, wippen cushion, knuckles, drop screw leathers,
>back rail cloth. The customer can't afford to rework the action, but would
>like it to play "quieter." Would this be a good candidate for the vodka?
>BTW all, that's all the Teflon centers are tight, near perfect.
>
>Paul Chick

All I can suggest, Paul, is to take out one wippen, noisy, but not right in 
the middle of the piano, and try it. The worst that happens is that you 
replace the felt and cloth on the one part. I don't think vodka would help 
leather. (In fact, it would WRECK leather!) It's wool which tangles up into 
a nice fluffy mass when it is wet. Picture what happens to a wool
sweater if you wash it in water.

I would brush the drop screw leather and knuckles well with a stiff suede 
brush, and maybe add teflon powder. Get off anything greasy which someone 
might have put on it, but without getting the leather wet. Leather shrinks 
and hardens when it has gotten wet. I think one reason for my preferring a 
very discrete amount of vodka over steaming the noisy action parts is that 
it would be harder to keep the steam from the leathers, and it might harden 
them.

Good luck ... tell me how it goes. If your sample note experiences a 
miracle cure, and you want to do the whole action, I think you could reach 
everything without removing parts from the stack, by turning the stack 
upside down. Vodka in a hypo-oiler or syringe could reach the jack 
regulating felt. If you want to gild the lily, it might be nice to take the 
rep spring out of its slot while the vodka dries, so that the jack 
regulating felt isn't pressed down while wet. How about the letoff button 
punching? If you are too excitable with the vodka, and soak the whole 
wippen cushion and letoff button cloth, they could come off and need 
regluing. Try just a drop or two of vodka, right at the contact points.

Susan