A remedy for Verdigris

[erwinspiano at aol.com]

Hey
 He /she would of course get the usual free lunch..... &.... occasional bonus... plus flexible work hours & of course health insurance.......nahhhh
  Dale







Nine dollars an hour?  You slave driver.  

 


David Love
davidlovepianos at comcast.net
www.davidlovepianos.com 


-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of erwinspiano at aol.com
Sent: Saturday, March 15, 2008 11:53 AM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: A remedy for Verdigris

 

 Yes ...quite true. It would have to be something the client would except liability for. However the repair cost might be quite reasonable if my/your 9 dollar an hour employee spent 4 or 5 hours  pinning on new flanges &  Also taking into account potential savings...ie. cost of traveling new flanges ,going thru the major adjustment of new wippens, setting up new spring tensions & major capstan cranking ...more than just the parts costs are saved. 
 Or how bout this hypothetical.  I have a  school with a donated older Steinway. The shanks & flanges/hammers get replaced but the frozen wippens are too much money to replace with new parts. An original set is available with new flanges only. No guarantee made. Its' still better than a non functioning Piano.
  How many times have we seen this done where the Teflon wippens are retained but new shanks & hammers installed. The function in many of these pianos isn't really all that bad barring extremes in friction or lack friction.
 Obviously these are cases where the whole 9 yards is not required.
  Just to be clear....which I'm often not....I'm not condoning,dismissing or judging this practice  & I'm also not asking for permission or approval to do this but merely offering food for thought from a different perspective than My usual custom restoration point of view. It was primarily a brainstorming idea.  Like if I could wave my magic wand & have non-vertigrised parts...wouldn't that be cool
 Dale

  






You have to be careful here that you’re not creating a potential liability in order to try and save a few dollars.  It might well cost you more in the long run.  



 




David Love
davidlovepianos at comcast.net
www.davidlovepianos.com 




-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of erwinspiano at aol.com
Sent: Saturday, March 15, 2008 9:53 AM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: A remedy for Verdigris



 



  Well all good points. Yes it's in the wood surrounding the bushing but on extreme cases it seems to have crept into the wood. 
  Here's the deal I have two sets of 20's wippens that are absolutely free of verdigris. & third that is not. SO if the gunk is in the flange only then new flanges would solve the problem.   Maybe they didn't get the gunk. They are well preserved  & frictions & pinning are excellent.
  As you say this would be in rare situations such as an econo job,  not something I would usually subscribe to but I hate wasting what seems like salvageable technology when feasible.
Thanks for the feedback
 
   Dale
 



 

 

It's a reasonable idea that might make sense in rare situations--though I'm

not sure what those would be--, but in general, not worth the effort and too

many potential liabilities.  At least that's my view.  If you're not

sentimental about original designs, there's certainly no reason to get

sentimental about original wippens with verdigris.   

 

David Love

davidlovepianos at comcast.net

www.davidlovepianos.com 

 

Original message

From: erwinspiano at aol.com

To: pianotech at ptg.org

Received: 3/14/2008 7:45:02 PM

Subject: A remedy for Verdigris

 

 

Hey all

 I know ...I know there is no remedy for verdigris .... except a new parts

transplant... but the other day my 83 year old Dad & I were looking a

perfectly useable set of vintage Steinway wippens except for the mild case

of creeping green crud so, We were lamenting having to toss a beautiful set

of original Steinway wippens in the trash. We started brainstorming how we

could solve this given the contamination is in the wood.  Now I know many of

us have re-pinned & re- bushed ...put on new flanges etc. & in the end all

for nothing as it returns, But with a good set of wippens approaching 1000

bucks the idea has my attention.

  I told my Dad I was thinking about how to cut out the birds eye & then

machine a new insert with birds eye & all. My thought was that if the new

insert was put in with epoxy that this would act as a verdigris barrier from

entering back into the new wood. Then My Pops says "why not just coat the

existing birds eye with epoxy & slide a coated pin thru the hole to seal up

the exposed inner wood which should prove de a barrier to any further

contamination". Then pin on new flanges. I thought the idea had merit.

  I mean for a few short hours of pinning & coating an original set of

beautifully made & machined  maple wippens could be preserved & re-used at

any level of performance required. 

  How bout some discussion.

  Dale

  

 

 








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