hammer steam voicing

[Ken Jankura]

At 07:21 PM 9/23/99 -0400, you wrote:
>Roger -
>
>Today I sailed my maiden voyage on the steamship Roger, and I am
>delighted to say that the results were astonishing!  This poor old 50's
>Acrosonic at a piano teacher's house had hammers as hard as they get, but
>30 minutes after I got there the piano had undergone a transformation I
>wouldn't have thought possible in that length of time.  And I was going
>SLOW!   I was amazed at how easy it was to even out the tone using steam
>alone, requiring only a tad bit of needling at the end.  The teacher
>could not believe her ears, saying it sounded just like it did 40 years
>ago.  Well, I don't know about THAT, but it truly was remarkable.  I DO
>wish I could get the 40 watt version, as the 80 watt available here in
>the states is a bit too hot when dry ironing, as you had indicated.  It
>truly is a great tool to have available in our bag of tricks, though. 
>Thanks for making us aware....
>
>The one question I had, and it was barely noticeable by me, and not at
>all by the teacher(yet), was a bit of "raspiness" in a few of the lower
>tenor hammers that was not present when I began, and I tried numerous
>approaches to eliminate it, including sanding, needling, a bit more
>steaming, dry iron, all unsuccessful.  Any ideas?
>
>Mark Potter
>bases-loaded@juno.com
>
I don't think I can come up with a solution to the 'raspiness', but I'd say
if you sanded, needled, steamed again, and dry ironed, and nothing changed,
it's probably there to stay :-) It may be strings.
Ever since the KC convention, I've been using this technique where
appropriate, including prior to hammer resurfacing on action reconditioning
jobs, to avoid excess filing (that is, to file only what is worn, and not
what is compressed). In the eyes of a few of my customers, I am to be
considered for canonization, having fulfilled at least, so far, the
requirement of having performed a miracle. 
In my limited experience, I've noticed that there is a difference in the
age and quality of hammer where this works best. Old uprights with hammers
that are 'dry as dust' don't 'uncompress' like even 40 or 50 year old
hammers do. The string cuts seem more like 'cuts' than compression on the
real oldies. On limited wear consoles and such, steaming and ironing can
really make the hammers look (and maybe sound) like new. Absolutley
amazing!! I carry the iron in my day-to-day case. Quick, easy, effective.
I tuned the most horrible Hamilton ever (it's difficult to tune from octave
4 up because the sustain time is too short!, but at least now it doesn't
hurt the ears as well :-)
I'll be looking out in the future to see how long-lasting this technique
is. But for now, I'm sold. Thanks, Roger.

Ken Jankura RPT
Newburg, PA