Nice video Steve. A few years old now but. I placed an order from you the other day - a dremel attachment & an oiler bottle. I have had success with lubricating butt leather just by brushing a small amount on the the top of the jack & playing it in a few times. No need to undo the tape.
Thx for this. Do you have the equivalent video for a grand? Interested in particular how to polish the jack tops to minimise friction with the knuckle...
Thanks for watching Chris. I will be doing more videos on grand regulation and service in the near future. I'll put on my list to do a video specifically on jack top lubricating.
Hi , I was afrais of seing someone putting teflon spray or even worse !!! Now thats OK I brush the whippen cloth before inserting Teflon the thing is also not to spray all that teflon dust in the place where you need to make some gluing later, as this is a very goo molding agent. Some prefer talcum only for that reason. Regards
Well, Ron did this with the action out of the piano, and he mentions several times to only use a tiny bit. I agree this stuff isn't something you want to get all over the insides of your piano. You might have heard of that guy who sprayed WD40 on the capo, pressure bar etc to help the strings move better, and that stuff spreads everywhere, and got into the tuning pins, and ended up trashed the pin block, because getting any type of silicone into the pin block makes the pins get suddenly very loose. There are places in a piano where friction is very good!
You don't necessarily want things to be slippery, you just want to reduce the friction between the moving parts. There are lubricants specifically designed for pianos, they are available in both wet and dry applications. Thanks for watching!
Steve, just wondering if when applying the powder with the brush, some of the powder sprinkles down below the hammer butt. Is it OK to just "dust" everything below it? Or should you apply the powder to each leather hammer butt, burnish it in, then take an air compressor and gently blow out any excess? (I was hoping to not have to take the action out yet again, but instead just lubricate the hammer butts while it's all still inside the piano.)
I was lubricating all of the centers with CLP the other night that I purchased from you (by the way, thank you for EVERYthing so far... great parts, videos, etc. it's been an adventure). By the way, on my upright action, I had a total of 4 pinned sections (including dampers). Does that sound about right? I lubricated each of them, both sides and inside, every note. Already made a huge, positive difference. My question though is (And you might slap my wrist) I put a dab of CLP on the top of the jack as I went along, thinking it was a good all around lubricant. I don't THINK I did any damage, but I wanted to ask you about this. The jacks aren't sticking when I play (so far) and everything is in working order, but would you recommend I apply this powder on all 88? (I'm somewhat restoring a piano, so I'm doing everything on all 88, not just spot fixes.) Noticed you removed the bridle strap... do you HAVE to do that to get in there with the powder?
I'm glad to hear that the CLP is working well on your action centers. I wouldn't recommend using the CLP though on the tops of the jacks as it may not work well if there was some other lubricant that may not be compatible with the CLP. I take the bridle strap off mainly because it makes it easier to get in to lubricate things.
If there was something there, it was probably dried up. As long as things aren't sticking, should I just leave it be? I'm guessing so - and that in about a year I'm applying this powder. :)
Hi, do you have a video describing the procedure for replacing the wippen cushion felt on an upright piano. My piano has wooden dowel capstans with graphite polished tops. The felt on the bottom of the wippens has quite a dip in it. You can feel the effect when you play as the capstan slides out of the dip. I have tried to brush the felt with a suede brush, but the effect soon wears off. Ptfe powder also makes little difference, so I think it is time to replace the felt.
We don’t have a video on this, but it’s fairly simple to just remove the old felt and glue new felt on once you’ve cut the pieces to the correct size. Just put the glue on the ends so it isn’t where the capstan hits the felt.
The action on my keys feel fairly smooth when I press down the damper pedal but when I let it go the action feels quite 'friction-y' if not even a bit gritty. Can this lubricating process be used on the damper spoons and felts?
Nice video Steve. A few years old now but. I placed an order from you the other day - a dremel attachment & an oiler bottle. I have had success with lubricating butt leather just by brushing a small amount on the the top of the jack & playing it in a few times. No need to undo the tape.
Thank you Howard. I would very much like a video on this subject for grand pianos.
Hi Jason, The process is pretty much the same with a grand piano. You would lubricate the whippen heel and the knuckles.
Very Nice!!!
Thx for this. Do you have the equivalent video for a grand? Interested in particular how to polish the jack tops to minimise friction with the knuckle...
Thanks for watching Chris. I will be doing more videos on grand regulation and service in the near future. I'll put on my list to do a video specifically on jack top lubricating.
Hi , I was afrais of seing someone putting teflon spray or even worse !!! Now thats OK
I brush the whippen cloth before inserting Teflon the thing is also not to spray all that teflon dust in the place where you need to make some gluing later, as this is a very goo molding agent. Some prefer talcum only for that reason. Regards
Well, Ron did this with the action out of the piano, and he mentions several times to only use a tiny bit. I agree this stuff isn't something you want to get all over the insides of your piano. You might have heard of that guy who sprayed WD40 on the capo, pressure bar etc to help the strings move better, and that stuff spreads everywhere, and got into the tuning pins, and ended up trashed the pin block, because getting any type of silicone into the pin block makes the pins get suddenly very loose. There are places in a piano where friction is very good!
Is there any part of the action where you DON'T want things to be slippery?
You don't necessarily want things to be slippery, you just want to reduce the friction between the moving parts. There are lubricants specifically designed for pianos, they are available in both wet and dry applications. Thanks for watching!
Great!!
Steve, just wondering if when applying the powder with the brush, some of the powder sprinkles down below the hammer butt. Is it OK to just "dust" everything below it? Or should you apply the powder to each leather hammer butt, burnish it in, then take an air compressor and gently blow out any excess? (I was hoping to not have to take the action out yet again, but instead just lubricate the hammer butts while it's all still inside the piano.)
Yes, it is a good idea to blow out any excess dust once you're done. It generally is easier to do this with the action out of the piano.
I was lubricating all of the centers with CLP the other night that I purchased from you (by the way, thank you for EVERYthing so far... great parts, videos, etc. it's been an adventure). By the way, on my upright action, I had a total of 4 pinned sections (including dampers). Does that sound about right? I lubricated each of them, both sides and inside, every note. Already made a huge, positive difference. My question though is (And you might slap my wrist) I put a dab of CLP on the top of the jack as I went along, thinking it was a good all around lubricant. I don't THINK I did any damage, but I wanted to ask you about this. The jacks aren't sticking when I play (so far) and everything is in working order, but would you recommend I apply this powder on all 88? (I'm somewhat restoring a piano, so I'm doing everything on all 88, not just spot fixes.) Noticed you removed the bridle strap... do you HAVE to do that to get in there with the powder?
I'm glad to hear that the CLP is working well on your action centers. I wouldn't recommend using the CLP though on the tops of the jacks as it may not work well if there was some other lubricant that may not be compatible with the CLP. I take the bridle strap off mainly because it makes it easier to get in to lubricate things.
If there was something there, it was probably dried up. As long as things aren't sticking, should I just leave it be? I'm guessing so - and that in about a year I'm applying this powder. :)
what is this CLP?
Hi, do you have a video describing the procedure for replacing the wippen cushion felt on an upright piano. My piano has wooden dowel capstans with graphite polished tops. The felt on the bottom of the wippens has quite a dip in it. You can feel the effect when you play as the capstan slides out of the dip. I have tried to brush the felt with a suede brush, but the effect soon wears off. Ptfe powder also makes little difference, so I think it is time to replace the felt.
We don’t have a video on this, but it’s fairly simple to just remove the old felt and glue new felt on once you’ve cut the pieces to the correct size. Just put the glue on the ends so it isn’t where the capstan hits the felt.
@@howardpianoind Thank you for your reply and advice.
The action on my keys feel fairly smooth when I press down the damper pedal but when I let it go the action feels quite 'friction-y' if not even a bit gritty. Can this lubricating process be used on the damper spoons and felts?
Yes, you can use this lubrication process on the damper lever felt and on the spoons as well.
why the powder and not protek clp oil?