key leads

[Robin Stevens]

Terry here in Port Pirie South Australia we have the largest lead smelter in
the southern hemisphere. I have always intended to take some of this off cut
lead down to the smelter and see if one of their metallurgists would analyse
it and maybe explain why it suddenly starts to grow after many decades. The
smelter here boasts that the lead they produce here is 99.9999% pure. A
month ago I had to cut the leads in a very nice overdamper Schwechten. All
of the bass damper leads had grown to the extent that the bass dampers were
locked together. I did not feel like taking all of the dampers of so with a
bit of juggling I was able to get support under each damper while I
chiselled the offending lead off. After doing many of these lead trimming
jobs over the years I find that ½ to ¾ of a hour you can trim a whole
keyboard. If the keys are badly split...that’s another story.

Robin Stevens

 

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Farrell
Sent: Wednesday, 5 March 2008 10:20 PM
To: Pianotech List
Subject: Re: key leads

 

Ditto for what Robin says Les. That's what I do. I have a set of Yamy keys
to do this to also. The only thing I'd comment on is disposal. I'm not sure
what the best thing to do is - but putting the lead in a landfill is
definitely NOT a good thing to do. I've got a can where I've been storing
junk lead. Maybe when I get enough, I can just drop it off at some metal
recycling place - and even get a couple bucks for it.

 

Terry Farrell

----- Original Message ----- 

 

Les I have found the best way is to have a designated 5/8 (new, or very
sharp) chisel in your tool kit just for dealing with this problem. I
normally have a old cutting board in my car and place a thick layer of
newspaper over the board so that the off cuts can be wrapped up and thrown
away. I place the key on the newspaper covered board (keytops upwards) and
then apply a downward cut with the chisel, sometimes two cuts are needed if
they are thick. Using a file will only clog up after one or two keys. They
normally will grow back after a few years so I’ve got no idea if sealing the
lead stops them from growing again. Spraying the key with lacquer seems a
bit messy when you could do the same job with a small brush.

Robin Stevens ARPT

South Australia

 

I have a piano to deal with next week- most of the leads are swelling.  They
can't afford to replace them, so my thought is to file them, then spray
lacquer on the lead.  The corrosion goes down very little into the actual
lead.

 

Also need to replace most if not all hammer return springs.  Does that lead
dust cause the springs to deteriorate and break?
les bartlett

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