steam voicing

[Michael Musial]

Hi
> Hello Michael. I'm curious what kind of problems have you had trying to
> steam voice. I (and others?) may be having problems and don't even know it
> (now THAT's a problem!).

I experimented a bit and then did two complete steam voicings. The
first was on some VERY bright vertical hammers. The results were not
that great. Trying this with the action still in the piano was not a
good thing for me to do either. I sizzled my fingers a few times :)
The second try was on a very bright Baldwin 226E grand. I steamed the set of
hammers twice and was not satisfied with the results. I came back a
few weeks later and used water/alcohol followed by needling. That did
the trick. The customer was quite pleased.

I wrung out the cloth as best I could before placing it on the
hammers, but I could only do three or four hammers before the iron
cooled off, then I had to wait a good 90 seconds before proceeding to
the next three or four. That was very frustrating. I then tried my 80
watt iron without a controller... MUCH too hot!  I need to get a
wattage controller ( Schaff's is $80.. ouch!)

Michael Musial
Reedsville Pa