Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Ethyl's Silly Nap Center Pin Lube and Cleaner

Ian,
I would not use ESN on bridge pins. Thats because Molybdenum is best for metal to metal friction. Thats what i use for bridge caps on my rebuilds, Great stuff. Todd Scott swears by using Sailkote on bridge pins and on the strings where it crosses over felt, when he goes to work on pianos in peoples homes. Sailkote goes on wet but it leaves a dry white film behind. Maybe its Teflon? I dont know.
Silicone is also known to have a little creeping factor, but i think this trait is what makes it more ideal for the center pin bushings, might not be good for bridge pins though.
-chris

Thanks, Chris. Molybdenum sounds a much better idea. I'll try that. Interesting to hear Todd Scott thinks treating the string over the felt makes a difference. No reason why not.

As a chemist, I can by no stretch of the imagination confirm the notion that ethyl acetate is "safe on your skin". I even have doubts that is is somehow "safer" than acetone, but I would have to do some more detailed reading on comparing their toxicity mechanisms.

The obvious difference is miscibility / solubility in water (high for acetone, low for EA) and polarity (high for acetone, intermediate for EA). But that aside, both are used in nail polish removers, both are potent degreasers and volatile solvents, and as a chemist, I treat them both with equal respect.

That aside, I'd certainly keep naphtha (the main part of Chris's mix) off my skin. All petroleum distillates, even aliphatic ones, have health risks.

By all means, take all precautions when handling these chemicals. I keep mine in a squeeze bottle that easily transfers the fluid to a hypo oiler. An 8oz bottle will probably last years for most people since so little is used when needed.

On my way to my desk, I walked past my wife's makeup station. I couldn't help but wonder how many toxic chemicals are in those products.
Chris.

I mostly use natural things 🤷‍♂️
Yes there are many bad chemicals in those products 😳

Gombessa, as someone who has been experimenting on the issue of how to lighten's one action for a few years now (on my own pianos), I have found lightening the hammers to be the most effective by far. However, this assumes everything else is at the correct friction level. If you have sticking hammer shank centerpins, for example, then freeing those centers using something like Chris's solution should help a lot. It all depends on how badly the action centers are sticking. Per Bill Spurlock, these are the main sources of friction:

"The main sources of friction for actions in good adjustment are, in order of decreasing amount, the knuckle, the hammershank centerpin, wippen centerpin, key bushings, and the capstan."

Doing a swing test on your hammer shanks is pretty easy. I'm not sure how to test proper wippen centerpin friction, but hitting each pin with Chris's solution can't hurt. However, unless you have excess friction in the system, a lube job alone won't do much to lighten the feel of the action.

Hi Emery,
Check this out for flange torque testing. Since this was so successful, Ive ditched the swing test for hammers and all of the gram gauges.
-chris

Another great video, Chris!

That still seems like a lot of work, when you think about having to do it 88 times.

All the best!

Rick

Very cool Chris. I hope you have a lot of audiobooks!