[CAUT] Steinway hammers with pre-voicing solution

[Mark Dierauf]

  I just attended Eric Schandall's "Voicing the NY Hammer" class at the
NE Regional and he sure didn't indicate that there was any
pre-lacquering being done in the factory. He made a point of saying that
the initial application must get plenty of lacquer way down near the tip
of the molding, and that subsequent applications would NOT be able to
accomplish this, which would suggest that they could not have been
pre-lacquered. I did get a couple of sets back in about '02 that sure
sounded as though they had already been lacquered, though. The procedure
that he outlined was to hit the entire hammer (except for the extreme
lower shoulder) with 1 to 3, then a second application if necessary that
hit the same area except for the crown and the area below it. 3 drops of
Keytop/Acetone (1 Pratt-Read keytop in 8 oz of acetone) right at the
strike point is sometimes used in addition to the lacquer, if needed.

- Mark Dierauf

-----Original Message-----
From: Fred Sturm [mailto:fssturm@unm.edu] 
Sent: Friday, May 13, 2005 3:06 PM
To: College and University Technicians
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Steinway hammers with pre-voicing solution

On 5/12/05 8:31 PM, "Tim Geinert, R.P.T." <geinert@drtel.net> wrote:

> At the factory, they have a template for each model's set of hammers,
and
> after the set is cut and preshaped, they are then lined up, and
lacquered as
> per the guide on the template.  As I recall, the entire set does not
> necessarily get juiced, and each section that does get juiced is not
> necessarily soaked, only as the template dictates, and its different
for
> each model.  All the hammers go through this step, the same as any
step in
> the process.  Their goal, as I understand it, is just to get the
hammers
> headed in the right direction, not make them hard.  I would expect
them to
> sound mellow, and they are, even with all of them receiving this
pre-voicing
> juicing.
> Tim G.
    I'm very curious as to the source of this information
(templates/lacquering in the factory). Did you actually see this? If so,
when? If not, who told you this was so?
    I hung a new set last summer on a B. Dead as a doornail (or
hyoer-mellow, depending how you want to describe it). I have two brand
new
sets in the shop right now, one installed, the other in the box. The
pianos
are out being strung, so I can't readily check tone quality, but I would
swear they are virgin felt. No visual sign of lacquer. Though
water-white
can be hard to see, you can usually tell. They feel like un-doped felt.
Stroking around the surface, the fibers are soft and yielding. Squeezing
pressure feels quite soft and compressible. Feeling the corners, they
have
no sharp edges. I have felt and examined lots of lacquered hammers, and
am
pretty sure I would know the difference.
    Everything I have ever heard from Eric Schandall, Kent Webb and John
Patton has indicated that hammers sold by Steinway to technicians are
un-lacquered. Eric clarifies by mentioning the dipping of the corners
for
gluing purposes, saying that's all the lacquer the factory puts in.
    So I'm very puzzled when I hear different from various sources. Has
anyone purchased and installed a set that were obviously bright and hard
out
of the box? Who precisely says that hammers from Steinway are
pre-lacquered
(or can be on request)?
    I'm not meaning to be argumentative, just want to know hard facts,
whatever they may be.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico