Hum, Terry it sounds like the shift to the right just a half of a string has occured. Filing the hammers may do the trick. If you need more try a hot iron set on wool across the tip of the hammer. Lightly now don't over do it. Joe Goss imatunr@srvinet.com www.mothergoosetools.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Farrell" <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com> To: <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2001 4:36 AM Subject: "Loss of Tone" Complaint > I tuned a 1928 Conover 5' 8" grand yesterday. I have now tuned it three > times. They tune once a year. When making the appt., the lady asked me to > clean the piano interior because they had made dust while installing tile on > the floor AND because she noticed a loss of piano tone. Actually, she told > me about the loss of tone thing while on the car phone, so I did not want to > have a long conversation - otherwise I may have pointed out that a little > dust just ain't gonna kill a piano. > > Cleaned and tuned piano. The piano appears to suffer from a "loss of tone" > (after getting dust out - so we know that was not it!!)! This piano appears > to be all original with original hammers. It is in just about as good > condition as any 73 year old all original piano will ever be. It functions > amazingly well (it's overall condition is about average for a 40 - 50 year > old piano). The tone is REAL MELLOW. It's like someone put marshmallows > (fresh) on in place of the hammers. The scale is four sections. The top two > are very quiet and super mellow, the bottom two are louder, but not loud, > and mellow, but not as muffled as the top two. > > The soundboard is flat or has just a bit of crown. Downbearing seems real > good (only had my rocker gauge with me yesterday - it did not seem > excessive, although there was plenty). > > Even in the top two sections, there are a couple-few notes that are a lot > louder and crisper. It's almost like all the hammers went soft, but a couple > had nail polish spilled on them. > > Anyway, my overall question is why is this piano like this (I realize that > is a very nebulous question), and assuming the hammers are the primary cause > (I plucked and it seems as though the hammers are the culprit - kinda hard > to tell though because I cannot pluck as hard as a hammer can hit!) - what > happens to an old hammer to make it soft? > > I am used to old hammers getting really hard - but an old one getting soft? > When you use the una-corda everything gets super-duper-incredibly mellow. > Would chemical treatment likely be of value here? I have never hardened a > hammer - always steaming or needling. > > And now a more global question. What happens to quality hammers as they age? > They start out at some level of hardness, but also they will have a good > deal of tension across the strike point. I suppose this tension is > responsible for something like "a full development of a pleasing bouquet of > partials"? Even if you harden, or soften, or whatever to your liking a 50 or > 70 year-old hammer, I can only assume that you will never get it back to how > it sounded when new (maybe a half-bouquet at best?). It's gotta loose > ALL/most the tension or whatever after a couple/few decades. So, would it > not be the case that in almost any situation, even if a piano owner > generally likes the tone of a piano (hammers look pretty good, but they are > 50 years old), that it will likely sound better with new hammers (I realize, > not that most people would notice)? What can anyone tell me about how a > hammer ages? > > Thanks big time. > > Terry Farrell >
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