Excellent. Somehow I'd like to acquire a few such hammers and find a way to have them assayed. Of course back then it was almost surely varnish or shellac. This, too, has been alluded to often: the hardener was what was already in the factory for other purposes. Do you have any? If so, I'll find a chemist. Doug On Thu, 17 Feb 2011, David Love wrote: > I've worked on several prewar (1920's) D's with original parts (hammers > anyway) that didn't have lacquer. Very lightweight hammer that you could > practically penetrate with a needle held in your fingers. In fact, I don't > think nitrocellulose lacquers were even invented until about 1920 or 1921? I > think it was awhile before they started using the stuff on hammers, though I > don't know for certain when that started. I've heard various stories and > most of them suggest it was certainly post WWII, perhaps much later. > > David Love > www.davidlovepianos.com > > > I have asked before, and will ask again, can anyone come up with a > SINGLE factory-installed Steinway D hammer that is lacquer-free? From > any era? This request is restricted to the Model D NY hammer from the > factory or the Basement. I'd really appreciate ONE piece of hard > evidence on this one. Anyone? I'll reiterate that I've been told by a > lot of Steinway people from at least 3 (4?) generations that ALL the > D's need at least any lacquer (or it's substitute) in ALL the hammers > to develop tone satisfactorily. A necessary element of tone development. > > And we all know which pianos the artists tend to select, for whatever > reasons... > > Doug > > > ********************************* > Doug Wood > Piano Technician > School of Music > University of Washington > dew2 at uw.edu > > doug at dougwoodpiano.com > (206) 935-5797 > ********************************* > >
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