Juice (was: M&H questions)

[Susan Kline]

Ron's talk about juicing hammers reminds me that maybe
it would be good to relate my own experiments with juicing.
Maybe someone will have some insights on what I've been
doing, or would like to try it themselves and tell us
how it worked.

I am just slightly kinked when it comes to using toxic
materials. I like to avoid them as much as I can, even
when they aren't really all that bad, and are used in
small quantities. My exception is CA glue, but I only
use a few drops of that at a time.

So, I'm not keen on keytop in acetone for two reasons:
(1) I hate the spicky sound, and (2) I don't like
breathing acetone, or introducing it into people's houses.
To add to that, I tried just a few drops of fairly weak
keytop solution on a few hammers of my favorite (i.e. --
ONLY) Baldwin SD-10, and I haven't been able to make
them match the rest of the hammers since.

Sanding sealer in lacquer thinner: I don't dislike the tone
as much, but lacquer thinner is still not all that nice to
breathe.

Well, I heard that Steinway used to use shellac on their
hammers, dripping it on from the side. They would stand
the stack on end, and swing the hammers out one at a time,
drip the shellac into them, then turn the stack over, and
do the other side.

Also, I heard that over time, keytop in hammers will, if
anything, harden, but that eventually under heavy playing,
shellac will break up and get softer, and therefore it is
easier to needle later on. I liked the sound of this.

I believe that Steinway didn't choose shellac for
esoteric reasons or the search for a perfect voicing
material, but simply because their cases at the time
were finished with shellac. They changed to lacquer
when the case finishers started to use it. In other
words, they would just grab what was at hand.

So, wanting to try shellac, I bought some ultrablonde
flakes online. ( woodfinishingsupplies.com ) It is
important, with shellac, to make it up fresh, because
over time it gets gummy and won't dry properly. The
flakes are added to alcohol, so <grin> of course, I
used bulk grain alcohol ("Everclear" or "Clear Spring")
from the liquor store. This stuff is 190 proof, so it
has very little water in it. The juice made with it
dries quite quickly.

I found that to get the flakes to dissolve without
matting at the bottom of the baby food jar I put them
in, I needed to put the jar in a pan of water on the
stove (at "warm") for a few minutes.

I'm still working out "cut" ... that is, the best weight
of flakes per ounce of alcohol. I just tried a medium
amount, like a not very thick shellac you would use on
furniture or priming a soundboard.

The drawback of shellac is that it puts little color
in the hammers, which one would have to warn owners about.
I'm going to try the "bleached" shellac later and see if
it is any lighter. However, a side benefit of this drawback
is that one can see exactly where the shellac was used,
and how far it has seeped.

The leftovers will also make a nice finish on whatever
odd bits of wood you have lying about, and brushes clean
up easily in alcohol.

For hammers, I put the shellac in an old (clean) dropper
bottle which had held echinacea tincture. Labeled it, of
course. The bottle seals well. I then put it in a ziploc
bag. Of course, it should not be kept long ... after a
couple more weeks I'll toss it and start over.

I have used it, so far, on the top seven hammers of a
Steinway A (rebuilt) which remained woolly sounding even
after other juicing. I took them off the action (since it
was easier than taking the stack off the keys) one at a
time, dripped the juice into the shoulders from the sides,
put them back on, and waited a few minutes. Then I listened,
and added two or three drops directly to the strike point
of two hammers which remained soft-sounding. This was about
a month ago.

I saw the piano yesterday. I really like the results. The
hammers were bright but not obnoxious, and were fairly
uniform. The tone blended well with that of the rest of
the piano.  I could see a faint beige color on the
hammers, though.

On this same piano, the first capo section was terribly
bright and zingy. I helped the zingers some by fiddling
with the wire, but it still had too much "tang" sound for
the rest of the piano. So, yesterday, I added a little
vodka to most hammers in the first capo, on the front
shoulder.

I found it instantly effective, really, too effective.
I may need to juice up the shoulders a little bit later,
though I'll start by using a hammer iron on them.
I didn't add all that much, but more than a couple of drops
may make the tone mushier than one would like. I'm trying
adding it at different places on the shoulders, and if
that doesn't soften enough, putting just a drop or two on
the strike line. I think it works like steam, which it
greatly resembles, but without the nuisance of removing
the action and setting up a kettle, or getting out a
hammer iron and press cloth. No steam burns or hammer
iron burns, either. (Don't ask me how I know about them ...)

I still need more experience before I can tell how to
reverse the vodka softening, or how it lasts over time.
For now, the tone seems good if a little soft-edged, and
I'm leaving it for about six weeks, to see whether it
brightens with heavy playing, which this piano gets lots
of. The owner tried it, and can take the present (not
extreme) softness in stride. I told him that if it starts
to annoy him, just to say the word and I'll come and iron
them and maybe juice them.

Vodka does seem much pleasanter than tearing the felt
with needles, though (and no blood on the hammers),
and it won't leave any foreign material (like Downy)
behind.

Best to all ... corroboration or rebuttal welcome.

Susan Kline