custom hammers

[Ron Nossaman]

> Hmm.  One time I worked on a piano where someone had used fingernail 
> polish on the hammers.  They were very shiny!
>  
> Barbara

I was asked by a local dealer to "take a look" at a Baldwin 
SD-10 years back. The last octave sounded like a plastic 
mallet hitting an  iron bar, which is just what it turned out 
to be strangely enough. The top section hammers were 
dazzlingly glossy with melted keytop hardener. All nap was 
filled and it just needed flattened and buffed to turn it into 
jewelry. Someone at the factory had apparently detected a tone 
deficiency and tried to voice it up some, then again, then 
again, etc. Baldwin, naturally, was sure it was fine. I popped 
off a dozen hammers or so and repositioned the strike point, 
and the PING appeared. Birds dropped from the sky in agony! It 
was decided that was good enough, and we quit there. It 
finally sold out of state, which was a good thing. I had told 
the dealer that if it sold locally, and anyone (like, anyone 
having been told that I had "fixed" it) ever asked me about 
the piano, I'd tell them what I knew and what I thought of it. 
He understood, but was caught in the middle.
Ron N