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

Here's a centerpin lubricant and cleaner i invented and am sharing with the world.
In the video I show how well it works, even with verdigris, and i show you how to make it. All the ingredients are easy to get and cheap.

You'll save $$$ by making it yourself.

If you try it, please share your feedback. This formula was the result of 5 years of Research and Development.
-chris

I enjoyed the video, and the info on the center-pin cleaner and lubricant, Chris! Thanks for sharing this info!

And, the name, "Ethyl's Silly Nap" sounds like just the right name for your concoction.

All the best!

Rick

Ethyl like in leaded gasoline?

Are you sure that's safe?

No, I believe it's like acetone

Thank you Chris.

My wife says ethyl acetate and naptha are ingredients of WD40. Keep your concoction away from from tuning pins, but what about bridge pins?

I just tried wd-40 on a bushing and it does not work (not even close) to what ethyl silly nap does. In fact wd40 had a clogging effect.
Ethyl acetate greatly out performs acetone in the experiments I did. The advantage ethyl acetate has is its a stronger solvent than acetone, plus it's safe on your skin. Not sure you can say that about acetone. They use ethyl acetate in many lotions and skin creams.
-chris

Within Dale,
Why would you want to use a lubricant on bridge pins?

I'd be interested to know what effect it would have on the sound. In particular on the conservation of longitudinal wave energy.

Looking up recipes for DIY WD40 indicated 50%+ naptha and lots of other stuff. No silicone oil - which sounds better for piano actions. She said she wouid make up some of your recipe for me and, no doubt, for testing on a wide variety of small metal objects stashed away around the house.

Duplicate post again

Dumb Q: why just the center pin? Are there are other points of friction this would be good on (or not good on)? The whippen and repetition lever flanges, jack, etc. What about for lubricating balance and front rail pins? Just wondering if there are special formulations needed for everything?

GOMBESSa,
Everything you mentioned is the same thing, a metal pin rotating or sliding against a cloth bushing

Silicone is a great lubricant however it does not stay where you put it therefore DO NOT use it anywhere it could find its way into a pinblock. It is considered perfectly safe though when limited to action centers. I will be ordering some EA shortly to mix a batch and try it out.

Could be a game changer for verdigris though. Time will tell. Thx Chris for sharing this.

Peter Grey Piano Doctor

Sounds like it can be used in most of these, then? Curious, can you estimate how much of a change is possible in terms of lightening up an action by using this? Or is it less about lightening the existing friction uh==in an action and more about maintaining current levels?

There's specs for everything. A certain amount of friction = safe so that the center pins don't walk their way out. I don't recall pins becoming too loose because of added lubricant. They can be too loose or too tight due to a variety of issues.

I agree, this solution looks very promising Thanks for sharing, Chris.

As Sam mentioned, there are specs. In Chris's video he demonstrates the swinging before and after. The "swing test" counts how many times the hammer swings before stopping. A technician can tell you how many swings is considered close to spec. If the hammer swings too much, you may start worrying about the hammer not traveling reliably straight anymore and not hitting the strings perfectly. That is a loose pin problem, not over lubrication. In my experience, on two grand pianos, it made a huge difference. One was 40 yrs old and the other was 15 years old. The 15 year old one was considered regulated recently, but I insisted on having the shop owner/tech do the swing test because it just didn't feel as nice as a new model. He reluctantly did so and to his surprise, when he pulled the hammer that felt the heaviest and hardest to play ppp on, it barely swung once. He used naptha on that center pin and it fixed it, so then he went all the way up and down, and within 20 minutes, I was ready to buy the piano. I was worried he was going to increase his ask price after that!

I am not an expert in lubricant, but isnt there already products that do that on the market though i guess more expensive ? I assume naphta is used to dilute the silicone oil and ethyl acetate is a solvant. So that would be a combination used also by other products.

The only piano action lubricants I've ever used is Protek CLP, McLube and powdered Teflon. I've read that ProTek CLP had the powdered Teflon mixed into a solvent. And, for my purposes, these products have worked well.

That said, next time I plan on doing a lube job on my piano(s) action, I'll try Chris' "Ethyl's Silly Nap".

Maybe he should have his recipe patented, and bottle it and sell it, with the name "Ethyl's Silly Nap Center Pin Lube and Cleaner". I'd buy a bottle, or two.

Rick

After watching back the video I felt the mixture ratios was a little arbitrary. So I measured the amount of ethyl acetate I was "squirting", it turns out it was the same amount as the oil. So
I simplified it to a 1:1:10 mixture, mixed up A batch and if you try it I think you'll be happy.
1 part ethyl acetate
1 part silicone oil
10 parts naphtha.
Much easier to remember and be consistent.
Thx.
-chris

Thank you for the update, Chris. Takes uncertainty away.

Coming back to my OTT question about lubrticating bridge pins. I have just confirmed careful toothbrushing of the strings and bridge pins livens some notes up a bit (i know this could be a "placebo" effect but I don't think so). As understand it the graphite between the pins and the bridge is to reduce friction with the string, so I wondered whether a small drop of your ESN between string and pin might help too. Help to reduce dissipation of enegy.

Maybe Teflon or leave well alone would be a better bet.