Hardening the capo bar

[David Love]

What is the basic procedure for hardening the capo bar and how deep does
that hardening generally extend, i.e. how easy is it to polish through it?

There have been a couple of mentions recently of the hardened inserts used
in agraffes.  What is that material and how difficult/beneficial would it
be to adhere one of those inserts (a long one obviously) to the underside
of the capo bar in place of the normal hardened "v" bar?  I am interested
as it seems that the capo bar is often compromised, especially on older
Steinways.  I am wondering if an unevenly hardened capo bar (or one where
the hardening has been filed through) will significantly compromise the
tone in that section?  Does hardening the capo provide a uniformly hardened
surface and does that lack of uniformity (if it exists) manifest itself in
tonal differences?


David Love
davidlovepianos@earthlink.net