[CAUT] Re: Self-voicing hammers, etc.

[Fred Sturm]

On 6/4/05 7:49 AM, "James Ellis" <claviers@nxs.net> wrote:

> Horace, I agree with you.  Fred may be right, this stuff might not corrode
> the strings, but there is just something about the general procedure of
> squirting stuff on hammers and then pounding them in the piano that sends
> up a red flag to me.  Just in case someone might use too much of it, and it
> is not all soaked or dired in, it will not only get on the strings, but it
> might spatter onto the damper felts.  I didn't see and hear the
> demonstration, so I can't say whether or not it actually works.
> 
> Jim Ellis
> 
> _______________________________________________
> caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
> 
Hi All,
    I  want to correct myself. I wrote that Schandall said to pound after
seven _seconds_. Should have been 7 _minutes_. A slip of the brain, my
apologies. Eric was also speaking of using pure acetone (without keytop) -
in an already lacquered hammer - for the same purpose, with the idea that it
would dissolve/reconstitute some of the lacquer, cause it to migrate
somewhat to the surface, and brighten up the tone. Pounding to be done with
strings muted (as taught by the Yamaha folks in a different context). Seven
minutes of evaporation pretty much eliminates "wet" acetone, I would think,
though the "hardening agent" (lacquer or keytop) would still be a bit pliant
and not fully set. 
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico