New Bostons

[Tim Coates]

Hi Susan,

It is great to hear different ways of doing something.  I didn't come up 
with the 2 ounce spray solution idea.  I was introduced  to it from a 
technician I respect highly.  Incidentally, he isn't a part of any 
listserve.  He thinks they do more damage than good both to people and 
ideas (can we all say Pianotech?)  Without respect we have nothing.  He 
was at a voicing class at a convention and saw/heard the results.    

I'm not talking about saturating the hammer.  I am talking about 
misting.  I doubt if a drop of solution is even put on a hammer.  You 
can literally mist the hammers and slide it back in the piano.  I 
usually wait about 5 minutes as I think you should give it a little time.

I don't think humidity has anything to do with the use of this solution 
of fabric softener.  Remember we are talking about 4-5 drops fabric 
softener to 2 ounces of liquid.  I remember when people first started 
talking about using fabric softener.  It was a very undiluted solution 
in comparison.  Yes, it is dry here right now, but not in the summer.  I 
mostly have misted in the summer.  The voicing I've done with it has 
been very, very stable.  I'd have to say it is about the most stable 
voicing tool I've found.  

It's good your methods work for you.  It's good my methods work for me.

Tim Coates
Wapin Company LLP



Susan Kline wrote:

> At 07:02 PM 1/24/2003 -0600, Tim wrote:
>
>> I have started using a 2 ounce spray bottle with half water, half 
>> rubbing alcohol and 5 drops of unscented fabric softener.  You spray 
>> on as much as you want and the results are instant.   Try a little at 
>> a time to get a feel.
>
>
> Not too different from what I would do, except that I would never use 
> the fabric softener. Possibly you feel you must in a very dry climate, 
> to try to attract what little relative humidity you have to the 
> hammer. But I hate putting stuff into a hammer which I can't take out, 
> especially if it's (what can one say?) -- _goo_.
>
> I keep my dropper bottle of generic "vodka" in a ziploc bag in my kit, 
> and just use a few drops right in the strike grooves to take down the 
> edge of the tone. I make several passes on difficult pianos, marking 
> the keysticks with chalk so that only the harsher sounding hammers get 
> a little bit more. I never put on enough to soak in below 2 and 10 
> o'clock, and most of the time I stay within the grooves completely, 
> tapering down to one small drop in the top octave.
>
> I find that if I get too vigorous and do much more than that, on 
> heavily played (gospel) pianos a couple of years later they have 
> stopped getting brighter and if anything are a little too mellow in 
> the middle treble. I'm theorizing that the vodka weakens the bonds 
> between the fibers when the notes are really beat on by the player. I 
> do notice that really bright hammers with some vodka still wet on them 
> will tone down if they are whacked really loudly, instead of getting 
> brighter.
>
> I think we should explore the differences in long-term results of 
> steaming/vodka/<ugh>snuggles in climates with different humidity.
>
> Susan
>
>
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