worn-to-the-wood hammers

[Conrad Hoffsommer]

At 08:43 AM 9/27/2005 -0400, you wrote:
>List
>
>When hammer felt is worn through to the wood, what can be done, short of 
>replacing the hammers with new ones, to restore some semblance of tone 
>quality?   I seem to remember a thread years ago on this...covering the 
>hammers with leather of some sort.  Didn't some older square grands have 
>leather covered hammers?  What type of leather?
>
>In this case, the situation geos beyond 'tone quality';  the hammers in 
>octave 7, being shorter by virtue of there being less felt at the strike 
>point, are overstriking and hitting the capo, resulting in practically no 
>sound whatsoever.  I think covering them with the proper material would at 
>least allow the hammers to hit the strings.  This is an old Kimball owned 
>by a family on a budget, and not a candidate for replacing the set of hammers.
>
>Thanks in advance for your advice,
>Tom Sivak
>Chicago


Buckskin.  Fortepiano style...

(Greatly simplified/no pictures available right now)
File to the bottom of the groove (i.e. wood) Take a strip of buck(or 
doe)skin, skive ends and glue one end to molding (or bottom of hammer 
felt).  Shiny side oudt, though fuzzy side out will give slightly softer 
sound.  Shiny side out will also be easier to make the job look good...

Once glue has set (hot hide glue is great for this job), stretch the strip 
over the top and glue other end. (Just glue the ends, not under the strike 
point.) Your thumb does a good clamp job for the short time that's needed 
for the glue to hold.  Trim the sides w/exacto.

If one layer isn't enough to reconstitute the length, use multiple layers, 
each longer than the one below.



Conrad Hoffsommer
I tried to get a life once, but they were all out of stock.