Hammer wear (fluff)

[Conrad Hoffsommer]

This fits under the "I hate when that happens." category.

While filing the hammers on a practice room Baldwin R, I found a
voicing needle which I had lost a long time ago. It must have broken
during some deep needling. It lined up with the string cut on the high
shoulder.

Think of the possibilities! Sheffield steel and Renner hammer merger
providing a -no argument possible- indicator for worn hammer replacement.
Just like the audible indicators for automotive brakes, and wear
indicator bars on tires, the imbedded needles would give that nice
-tin pie-annie- sound on those notes where the string cuts coincide
with the randomly placed needles.

If somehow the needle wasn't found by the string, your filing tool
would find it and you could tell your customer, "I'm sorry, but I'm
not able to do 'just one more filing', the safe wear limit has been
reached and I *must* replace the whole set."

Full employment for hammer manufacturers and technicians, and the
customer has a better instrument - everybody's happy, right..$-}

--
Conrad Hoffsommer                Ignorance doesn't kill you, but it will
Luther College                   make you sweat a lot.-Haitian proverb
Decorah, Iowa 52101
hoffsoco@martin.luther.edu       (319)-387-1204