Rebush (or elect someone else?)

[Alan Barnard]

Wim and all, Thanks for the response. This stuff is not the blue-green verdigris but is an olive-green powdery stuff you can actually wipe off the end of the bushing with your finger. I read, somewhere, that however Steinway treated their upright flanges, back in the teens and early twenties, it did produce "stuff" that mold can grow in. Also, the center pins are shiny and clean, no pits. So I think it is, indeed, something growing in there.

I'm going to soak them in pure methanol to kill the stuff (and maybe remove some of the lanolin and/or paraffin or whatever), let them dry, ream and repin.

And you can durn well bet I'll just try a few samples, first. I'll let you know how it comes out.

Anybody need 10 lbs of Pb?

Alan Barnard
Salem, MO




Original message
From: "Willem Blees"   
To: pianotuner at embarqmail.com, pianotech at ptg.org
Received: 1/5/2008 4:42:13 PM
Subject: Re: Rebush (or elect someone else?)


Alan

The "mold" is verdigris, also referred to as green gunk. It is easier and cheaper to ream and repin, and it will solve the problem for a while. But it isn't a permanent solution. 

The problem is the bushing cloth, which was impregnated with paraffin wax. The wax reacts to the nickel on the centerpin and produces the green gunk.  So although you can remove the centerpin, and ream out the green gunk, the wool still has the wax. So the problem will come back, eventually. But since it takes about 25 - 40 years for the chemical reaction to have any kind of effect, you, and your customer, won't be around to worry about it. Besides, by then the piano will probably have other problems. 


Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT
Piano Tuner/Technician
Honolulu, HI
Author of 
The Business of Piano Tuning
available from Potter Press
www.pianotuning.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Alan Barnard <pianotuner at embarqmail.com>
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Sent: Sat, 5 Jan 2008 12:15 pm
Subject: Rebush (or elect someone else?)


Got a 1916 Steinway upright that's definitely an oldie but moldy -- all flanges practically seized up with mold in the bushings. Rather than rebushing everything or replacing the flanges (super expensive!), has anyone had success just reaming and repinning?

BTW previous tech(s) had put large lead weights near the back of all the keysticks (2-ouncers, I'd guess) AND screwed jiffy leads to most of the stickers! Must have played like a Mack truck .... with its power steering broken ...... and both front tires flat .... on a sand dune!

Alan Barnard
Salem, MO



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