Nick's formula was made of fabric softener and rubbing alcohol, which is about 30% water. he called for liberal soaking into the shoulders. I used it successfully for a while, until I applied it to a set of new Baldwin hammers. As I got to note 88 I looked back and watched as the hammers went "pop" up the scale. As for VSP, I wonder about the wisdom of applying even tiny amounts of silicone to a hammer surface that contacts wound strings. Silicone likes to travel, and the inpacts and vibrations should give it plenty of help. I worked in a school where my predecessor believed in applying silicone to the bridges "to help the strings slide." All of the bass strings were dead on those pianos. Ed S. Fred wrote: > I got some unscented fabric softener (hard to find), and will do a bit of > experimentation on things like hard dampers and hammers. As I wrote in an > earlier post, Nick Gravagne swore by alcohol and fabric softener for > those rock hard hammers. I never got around to trying. For dampers, I > would try more water in the formulation. Certainly the silicone is > useless for both applications. > At $12 a quart, VSP is too pricey for my wallet unless it turns out to be > very extra special indeed, if I can buy a lifetime supply of softener for > $5, and use either powdered teflon or Protek for lubrication. I'll be > trying it out to see whether it out-performs "homebrew." Or steaming and > heated cauls for key bushings. > Regards, > Fred Sturm > University of New Mexico > fssturm at unm.edu > > >
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