[CAUT] Self voicing hammers/work hardening

[Fred Sturm]

On 5/31/05 5:08 PM, "Horace Greeley" <hgreeley@stanford.edu> wrote:
> 
> Hi, Fred,
> The problem with this solution is that both acetone and keytop is/are
> transferred to the steel strings, where the acetone (virtually) instantly
> accelerates whatever rust/scale build-up is already in progress.  (It also
> does a pretty good job of messing up whatever shift voicing may have been
> present.)
> 
> As to driving it "a wee bit below the surface"...unless the solution is too
> strong to begin with, this argument fails on its premise.  That is, if the
> solution is sufficiently thin to avoid the "spicky clicky" sound to which
> Susan refers, it is also sufficiently thin to have penetrated the hammer
> more effectively and efficiently than any amount of "pounding" can
> realistically be expected to produce.
> 
> Sorry - this simply does not fly.
> 
> Best.
> 
> Horace

Hi Horace,
    I dunno if it flies. Maybe it waddles, crawls, or just sits there,
staring up at you with baleful eyes ;-). But at any rate, it is a procedure
being taught by Eric Schandall, and as such might be considered current
"official Steinway practice." Eric included this procedure as part of his
new all day class on voicing - late afternoon class devoted to theory,
listening to the dull piano, and finally applying lacquer. Next day, two to
three periods of real time voicing, going through the entire piano doing
shift and tre corde voicing. The class had its debut at CalState in 2004 (I
was there), and has since been given several times, including at Nashville.
I haven't used the keytop/pounding thing much, beyond a bit of
experimentation, but it seems to be effective in reducing the need for
needling following application of keytop.
    I'm puzzled by your assertion that it would lead to accelerated rusting
of strings. I'm not a chemist, but from what I understand acetone is a
petroleum distillate, and generally such hydrocarbons impede rust if
anything. I shouldn't think it has any catalytic properties. At any rate, by
the time those 7 seconds have passed, most of it has flashed or wicked into
the felt. The amount transferred to the string would be miniscule.
    I agree that one needs to check and possibly adjust shift voicing
afterwards. And any time you apply acetone and whatever with a needle
dropper devise, it's going to wick into the between groove area to some
extent. The only way to avoid affecting shift voicing is to apply only to
the string grooves, by laying a dipped wire on that part of the hammer (as
Charles Ball mentioned a while back), or dripping off a dipped wire (as
Barbara Richmond suggested very recently - I haven't tried that, but it
sounds like a great idea). But the pounding while shifting procedure does
reduce that need.
    When using acetone as the vehicle, the rapid flash tends to "pull" the
hardener material (lacquer, keytop, whatever) to the surface (or, at any
rate, to lead to a greater buildup at the surface than elsewhere). This is
also true when applying lacquer in general (or painting, for that matter) -
there is a hard surface of lacquer on the surface of the hammer, with a
sound that is quite apparent, and which is reduced dramatically by filing a
very small bit of the surface away. Acetone seems to enhance that effect. My
sense is that the pounding that Eric suggests is taking place at a moment
when most of the flash has taken place, but the keytop material is still
pliable. So you are flexing the individual hammer fibers that are becoming
stiffened by the thin coating of material, and perhaps counteracting the
flash effect of drawing that material to the surface.
    I'm not meaning to proselytize, just documenting what is being taught
and done. Not my procedure, but it's lying in wait in the bag of tricks <g>.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico