Friends, A little while back we had a discussion about stapled/blooming hammers. Last week, I couldn't help thinking about it when I was working on a Knabe 40" console which had at least 20 bloomers. New customer, church mid-week at 56°F, not tuned in years, a bare Dampp-Chaser rod w/o humidistat and the contact had mentioned some sticking keys... My expectations were somewhat lowered. The contact, whom I didn't immediately recognize since I hadn't tuned for her in almost 20 years, was extolling the great sound of the piano before I even opened it up. The blooming was not the cause of the sticking as ALL of the ones which opened up had opened up on the top. This set of hammers is stapled all the way up as far as the dampers go. The failed hammers also were all across that range. There was one which had been thread wrap repaired. Surprisingly, the overall sound of the beastie really wasn't that bad, considering what it was. It appears that the blooming helped avoid the normal brittle sound. Who knew that failed staples could be a voicing tool/assist????? ;-} BTW, they DID realize that the D-C bar should only be plugged in in the summer. I planted the seed that they should, at least, get a humidistat and have it tuned at least once a year. We'll see. The contact also said she'd be calling me soon to tune at her home - a Gulbransen spinet she'd gotten since I was last there. It don't get better than this... -- Conrad Hoffsommer, RPT - Keyboard Technician Luther College, 700 College Dr., Decorah, Iowa 52101-1045 1-(563)-387-1204 // Fax 1-(563)-387-1076
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