Steinway V hammers

[Erwinspiano@aol.com]

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            Hi Ed
  Good advice & strategy. Its hard to sell some pianist the "It'll break in 
with playing routine" however. The only thing I'd add to your prtocol is that 
the last thing to do would be to use a very dilute solution (^6-1) or 
whatever.on the top to satisfy these folks till it does breaks in. That being said 
you'll never sell a Stwy D that sounds like its only half baked to some one 
looking for a concert instrument.
  Dale
Greetings,
    Inre my recommendation for using 5:1 thinned lacquer and being 
conservative, Dale and Bill have responded with the "other side".   I sorta 
agree, but 
want to offer a little more of my own rationale.

Dale said: 
     Yes,  but on the other hand if the hammers are really too soft the 5 to 
1- 
will not get the hammer felt stiff enough & trying to switch to a thicker 
solution (3-1) solution later will only encounter the blocking effect of the 
first application & the 3-1 to 1 can't get in as far as it needs to go. 
    I rather suggest experimenting on only a few hammers at a time in 
different registers to determine the appropriate remedy. I like to stick a 
single 
needle in various hammers as a probe to get a feel of the inherent stiffness 
or 
lack of it. If you call the mixture wrong on one at least you didn't whole 
sale 
treat em all & then say oops I shoulnda done that!. <<

      By beginning my doping on the shoulders at 9:00 and 3:00, (a full 
eyedropper full on each one), I leave a "V-shaped" area under the string with 
very 
little lacquer in it.    You can observe this with some colored lacquer on a 
scrap Steinway Hammer.  The wicking effect takes the fluid in farthest in at 
the middle, forming a half-moon shape and usually reaching the core wood 
right 
at its tip.  When this happens from both sides, the center of the hammer ends 
up drenched, with a graduated amount of hardener rising above it to the 
contact 
point, ( well soaked at the top of the underfelt and none at all on the 
surface where the string will be contacted).  
   I like to let the hammers get played after this, and often, they will 
begin to develop a brilliance and range.  If the player simply doesn't like 
the 
softness, or the hammers need more brilliance right off, then I add more 
lacquer 
from higher up on the shoulder, something like half an eyedropper at 10:30 
and 1:30 positions.  This seems to avoid the "blocking" of the earlier 
application, and usually begins to create much more dramatic results.  It 
also leaves 
still a little untreated felt at the very surface and this is what I want.  
    The factory method of soaking from the top down can make for a very nice 
sound, (once you needle the crashy sound out of a percentage of hammers thus 
treated).  However, I find that the sound is not durable, and with moderate 
to 
heavy play, the sound becomes harsh.  When needling the harshness out, I feel 
like I begin to lose tonal range.  

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