[CAUT] Rinsing lacquer from hammers

Fred Sturm fssturm at unm.edu
Sun Feb 13 18:51:31 MST 2011


On Feb 13, 2011, at 11:21 AM, Delwin D Fandrich wrote:

> I think I’ve tried just about every technique known to man- or woman- 
> kind to get the lacquer out including making a tray so I would soak  
> the whole set of hammers—strike surface down—in various thinners  
> overnight. Sometimes my initial reaction has been, “Oh, great, this  
> is actually working!” only to later find that I just can’t get the  
> resilience, the “bounce,” back. At best, I think I’ve been able to  
> make some of them less bad. But less bad is a far way from great.
>
> For me the obvious solution is to not put the stuff in there to  
> begin with.


	I would agree that if what you are after is a pristine hammer like it  
was before the lacquer was applied, you would probably be  
disappointed. I have been thinking of the hammer (in this procedure)  
as a lacquered hammer, and washing the hardener out so as to start  
anew with hardener, in standard Steinway procedure. For that, I think  
soaking the material out as described works well, gives you a  
relatively fresh start. Good for when it is over-lacquered, or wasn't  
lacquered enough at the core but had a lot on the shoulders, or  
various similar scenarios.
	But if you want a lacquer-free sound, you need a lacquer free hammer,  
and the only way to have that is not to apply it.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
fssturm at unm.edu
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/FredSturm

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