I concur in general with the below. f One slight qualification tho,.. the statement about lacquer continuing to harden over time in this context is I think dependent on the type of lacquer used.. At least as concerns the combined lacquer/hammerfelt substance. Shellack for example will break down over time and the hammer hardened thus will loose some of its hardness over time. Cellulose is rather soft stuff in general to begin with... tho it may harden somewhat after initial curing over time... I am doubtful that this is an issue in hammer voicing. Cellulose has been the hammer lacquer of my choice when I first have to resort to it because of this. Tho it does adhere to felt fibres and restricts their natural resiliency.... it perhaps yeilds a bit more then most other type of hammer hardner in use. Still... all in all.. I'd like to avoid lacquer all together. I just prefer the sound of non-lacquered hammers.... and I very much prefer working with them. Again tho.. to each their own as the saying goes. Cheers RicB ..... If you have to add a lot of lacquer to them then I think you should have chosen a firmer hammer to begin with. Lacquer, in my view, also destroys resilience by virtue of the binding together of the felt fibers and because it continues to harden over time. Resilience, again in my view, is essential for power without distortion and for maximum sustain. David Love davidlovepianos at comcast.net www.davidlovepianos.com
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