Nickel Plated Screws
By Craig Brougher
I too like new nickel-plated screws for restorations, and buy them all from American Piano Supply Co. They carry all kinds, including the special very large #20 leg screws in nickel Plated steel. They sell plate screws and bolts, and a full line of brass wood screws. You can get flat head, round head, and oval headed screws in straight slot, all kinds of washers, recessed washers and flat head washers.
Phillip Jamison mentioned that he gets defective screws from them. I think everybody gets a share of these. The most common problem is either slots too wide, too narrow, or too shallow, but it is fairly rare. I buy them by the thousands, and have to say they do a good job, overall. The plating is very nice.
One thing I'd like to pass on about using new screws in old wood holes: the thread will be different than the original screw, so some of your threads will be cross-threaded and that weakens the bond. But there is a glue called Hot Stuff, by Satelite City, and several accelerators available. When an old hole is soaked with this stuff (stab a flat toothpick down the hole to make sure the hole isn't closed off), and a little accelerator used to harden it, the screw will be tighter and stronger than new.
This is especially important if you're doing a Standard action player made of sweet gum, or similar ones. Those holes in the pouch board are adjacent to the pouch signal holes and break through very easily. Then you'll have a few notes that play down all the time. Using Hot Stuff before retightening the screws helps a lot. And if you already have a few screw holes that leak into pouch holes, bush the pouch hole with a brass ferrule and a little five-minute quick epoxy or shellac.
Craig Brougher
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(Message sent Wed 8 Jan 1997, 12:37:25 GMT, from time zone GMT.) |
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