voicing w/ alc/water

[Delwin D Fandrich]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Howard S. Rosen" <hsrosen@gate.net>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: January 19, 2001 5:17 AM
Subject: voicing w/ alc/water


>
> When I recently reported that using 50/50 alcohol/water to soften hammers
> sometimes resulted in hammers coming off their mouldings, I should have
> mentioned that it only happened on small spinets that had unstapled
hammers.
> I now use steam exclusively. I find it quick, very effective and much more
> controllable.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------

I've been watching this thread for a bit...

You might find part of a recent piece I wrote on the caut list interesting:

"We also try other hammers from time to time. Right we have a set of Abel
hammers on a Steinway A3 we've just finishing up. The sound was initially so
hard and strident we very nearly took them off and replaced them. Since we
figured there was nothing to lose, we tried saturating them with alcohol and
water. Yes, I do mean saturating them -- right to the core and then some
more. They puffed up and I sanded them back down to their original size,
tried them in the piano and then did it again. The puffed up some more --
though not as much -- and I sanded them back down again. Tried them in the
piano and did it a third time. Again, they puffed up, though this time just
a little. I then sanded them down one more time and I was just about there.

"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.

"A bit of needling through the tenor and first treble section brought it
nicely in
line. And yes, it is still bright enough. It has since been used twice in
small recitals, once in a large ski lodge with an audience of about 200 and
then in a large hotel banquet room with an audience of approximately 500. In
neither case was any amplification needed, nor would it have been desirable
or appropriate. The piano is quite loud enough and bright enough on its own,
thank you very much. (It's also now for sale, in case anybody is
interested!)"

We had no trouble with the felt separating from the moldings at all.

Regards,

Del