Hardening the capo bar

[Ray Hopland]

David

I once had a capo bar hardened.  It was done with either a mig or tig
welder.  I told the welder that I did not want any material added or taken
away but the arc just close enough to temper the immediate surface of the
capo bar.  That heat would depend on the origional materials that went into
the casting of the frame.  So the welder would have to find the right arc to
temper it properly.  You would want to find a vvvvery compitant welder for
this job.  I had to use a stone to smooth out the bar as a file was usless.
I guess the tone was better but being the piano had a poor tone to begin
with and I resturng it as well as new hammers Etc. and the fact that the
hammer line needed correcting all added up to the question,  how much did
the tempering actually do.

Regards
Ray Hopland

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Love" <davidlovepianos@earthlink.net>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2003 1:01 AM
Subject: Hardening the capo bar


> 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
>
>
>
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