> >Nah, who needs money when there are interesting experiments to beat our >heads against? > > >Ron N This thread is interesting and connected to a question I have. A customer has a Steinway O in an impossibly damp location and will not do anything to control the humidity in the piano. I have already "freed up" all action centers to the point that at 71% RH the hammers swing 9 to 11 times. So I began wondering whether the felt in the hammers attracts moisture, becomes heavier and makes the touch heavier. Having the action in our unheated shop, and having the weather suddenly change from summer-like to stormy and pouring rain, I figured they would change. SO I brought sample hammers into the house and weighed them immediately, #1 was 12.5 grams, one from the tenor (don't have the # here) was 10.5 grams. I left them sit in the house for a day and weighed them again at 56%. #1 was 12.0 grams and the tenor one was 10.1 grams. (They also went from 9 and 11 swings to 13 and 14). Then I put them in the oven at 140 degrees for about 6 hours, measured and came up with 10.79 grams on #1 and 9.9 on the tenor hammer. (15 and 16 swings) Nothing seemed to be conclusive, but when I read from Del Fandrich's post I became quite excited, the hammers on my customers piano are from Superior Imports, installed about ten years ago. Del said: >>replaced them. Since we figured there was nothing to lose, we tried saturating them with alcohol and water. (By the way, during this time touch weight went from approximately 62 to 64 grams downweight down to 52 to 54 grams downweight with the original key leading -- three towards the end of the key through the bass.) Now that's a significant reduction in touch weight! I have a sample hammer from Superior Imports shanked up to put on our Kawai GS50 for an experiment we did in comparing different brands of hammers on one piano many years ago, maybe I'll reinstall it and try to flush out some of the hardner, then I can measure touch weight and listen to tone. Thanks for the idea, Del! Diane Diane Hofstetter 245-M Mount Hermon Rd.#343 Scotts Valley, CA 95066 ph 831-438-6222 fax 831-430-9741 dianepianotuner@hotmail.com _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
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