<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; = charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2802" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#d8d0c8> <DIV><FONT size=2>I did the same, on a 30-year-old C3 at a = college, used daily as a teaching and performance piano, and apparently having = received little maintenance during that time.   It pinged painfully = throughout, especially octaves 5 & 6.  In a performance with a string = quartet, it sounded like a banjo.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Reshaping removed about two layers of felt along = with the string grooves, but made little difference in tone.  A few drops of = vodka at the strike points, and suddenly it was a piano again, with a full = range of partials at softer-than-forte play.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>I was taught that the hammers should be allowed to = dry before playing (to avoid packing the felt back down).  Is this how you do = it, Susan?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>--Cy--</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; = BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: = black"><B>From:</B> <A title=skline@peak.org href="mailto:skline@peak.org">Susan = Kline</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=caut@ptg.org href="mailto:caut@ptg.org">College and University Technicians</A> = </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, January 06, 2006 = 11:30 PM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [CAUT] = Alcohol/water on Yamaha hammers</DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT><BR></DIV> <DIV>After filing the hammers to a better shape, I used alcohol on the = <BR>strike points in the sections which were harsher than I could <BR>tolerate. When I say I used alcohol (with water, to 100 proof) I = mean <BR>that I used a few drops per hammer directly into the string = grooves <BR>in the tenor, tapering to one small drop on each hammer in the top = <BR>octave. </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT = size=2><snip></FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>