I run into a number of 60's vintage consoles with Sterling (Canada) actions. As a rule, keys are not back-weighted, hammer return springs are strong, damper lift is early, and touch is unpleasant. Hammer pinning is tight--pulling a hammer and swinging it will yield 1, 2, maybe 3 swings. I'm applying 85% methanol, 15% water to the flanges, and applying heat with a Damppchaser humidifier bar. Once this is done, persistent and vigorous working of the assembled flange will yield 5 swings (I would aim for 7 in the drier season.) Here's my question: After letting the alcohol-water solution evaporate, an immediate swing test yields a slightly better result than before application. An initial vigorous swing/shaking of the hammer brings the number of swings DOWN, not up. What's up with this? If I apply pressure in various directions while working the flange slowly, I can get the friction to target, once I've done this I use Protek CLP, with the intention of enhancing the work done by cleaning and protecting the pin. (CLP without the water/alcohol treatment does not provide a lasting result.) I think this is still faster than repinning the whole set, and I imagine that the water/alcohol treatment improveds the state of the bushings, but that increase in friction with initial working doesn't make sense to me. Any ideas what is going on? Floyd Gadd Manitoba Chapter -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100604/dafeb0a8/attachment.htm>
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