WD-40 in pinblock

[Paul McCloud]

Not just WD-40.  It was oil, Tribotech, Slick-50, whatever.  He used it on all the bridge pins, bearing points, etc.  We kept a pinblock that had been removed from a Steinway grand that was so much soaked with oil that a piece of paper taped to it became soaked too!  We learned to spot the symptoms of his work- fuzzy strings, dark lines on the hammer crown, greasy feel on tuning pins.  His business card would be glued under the music rack and inside the bench lid.
Not only was he using oil, but he spent a considerable time un-regulating some pianos so that the piano became harder to play.  His intention was to avoid breaking strings, so he would set letoff very far away, blow distance was very short, etc.  In addition, he would add pieces of lead to the back of the keys to increase the downweight.  He told me personally that breaking a string was the worst thing you could do to a piano.  He cited some old Guild practice of lubricating bearing points on strings so they wouldn't break (like liquid wrench).  The result of his work ruined many, many pianos in the San Diego area.  Lubing the tuning pins with vaseline was another fetish.  His tuning prices were so low that he got many recommendations from teachers, which is how he was able to service so many pianos.  Even if you could re-regulate the pianos he worked on, the bridges were ruined by the oil, which made the wood mushy.
Sadly, this poor fellow really needed some psychiatric help.  I actually feel sorry for him.  He worked so hard at what he did, and really felt that his practices were in the best interest of his customers.  You couldn't tell him anything, and he refused our Guild's advice to stop.  It took years to finally remove him from the Guild, and he initiated lawsuits against our local officers and the Guild.  I don't think anything ever got to court.  A really sad tale all around.  I think his son is also a tuner, and may be still in San Diego.  I hope he's not doing what his father did.  
God love him, I've not seen him in years.

Paul McCloud
inSane Diego

Paul McCloud
Service Technician for PianoSD.com
www.pianoservsd.com 
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----- Original Message ----- 
From: 
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Sent: 06/13/2008 7:22:21 AM 
Subject: Re: WD-40 in pinblock


Sure ,yeah ,right...Now you're covering you butt. Grin
  As I said privately...Use the belly wax, ear wax, whatever...  really...it woiks. lol. 
   Listen ..no kidding..they had a WD-40 king on the loose in San Diego a few years back. ASk Mannino.
   He thought it was good for the entire piano.  Law suits still going on.  Got extricated from the guild...finally.Somebody else replaced him. 
 Dale




Since several of you have been so kind to contact me privately about the post about using WD-40 to thread machine screws into the pinblocks, "Michael,, do you really think it's a good idea to use WD-40 in your pinblocks?", I thought I would make it clear that I was joking. For the record,, WD-40 should not be used with any applications involving wood.  


                Michael  Spreeman 
http://www.spreemanpianoinnovations.com




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