Barbara, Thanks for all the tips on prepping Kawai pianos. Can you clarify for me a little more on where on the shoulders (high or low) that you use the vise grips? Also I've noticed that the strike surface is slightly cupped when they arrive in our store. Usually I do some light filing to level the tops to the strings along with string levelling. The other thing I sometimes use is alcohol either directly on the strike surface, on the shoulders, or sometimes both. I've not noticed this to particularly help the sustain so I suspect that I'm not making the hammer any more resiliant or springy but it does seem to help the tone open up quite a bit and also make them a little more capable of dynamic range. I'd appreciate any comments, techniques, tricks, stories or suggestions from y'all out there in "tooner" land. Thanks, Bill Scharbrough, RPT
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