1939 Steinway wippens

[John Formsma]

On 11/9/07, John Delacour <JD at pianomaker.co.uk> wrote:

> As to tallow used in moderation, I'm not sure this Steinway
> experience should give it a bad name altogether.  I doubt if a light
> smear of tallow in the pins can do any harm and am cautiously
> experimenting at the moment with a little pot of deer tallow I got
> from a German supplier.

Dunno if it's true, but I heard years back from my mentor that it was
whale tallow, and the entire flange was dipped into it.  Which offers
a reasonable explanation why merely repinning doesn't permanently fix
the vertigris problem.  It's in the wood.

JF