Tom, just hit the striking point with some CA glue. I tried it on a piano that needed new hammer. Great sound! Much better tonal quality than the tacks, with all the tackieness (pun intended) that you are looking for and I don't think it will damage the string near what the tacks will do. Al G -------------------------------------------------- From: "Tom Sivak" <tvaktvak at sbcglobal.net> Sent: Monday, November 24, 2008 6:17 PM To: "pianotech" <pianotech at ptg.org> Subject: [pianotech] can I take a different tack? > List > > On Wednesday I am going to be asked about converting an upright piano into > a "Tack Piano". > > I know that Schaff has a rail that can be installed to simulate the "Tack > Piano" sound, but I'm not convinced it will work very well. After all, > it's from Schaff! > > Oooh, I can't believe I wrote that! > > No, what I meant was, after all, mute rails don't work very well either, > even on Yamahas, so why would a self-installed tack piano rail work? On > the other hand, it would be non-invasive and non-permanent. > > But, I'm wondering about other options. Certainly actual tacks could be > inserted into the hammer at the strike point---I assume that's what was > done originally. Why else would it be called a "tack piano"? That would > work wouldn't it? > > I also wonder if the hammers could be doped to be hard enough to simulate > the tack piano sound. The negative here would be the relative permanence > of the modification. > > I'm open to other suggestions or flames in my general direction. However, > before anyone throws dirt at the client who wants this done, I should > mention that he's a rather high profile successful rock musician with Gold > Records and all that comes with it. This is my first appointment with > him, so I'm interested in accommodating him in whatever way I can. > > Including buying 88 tacks and shoving them into the hammers, one by one, > if that's what it takes. > > Any thoughts? > > Tom Sivak > Chicago > > > > >
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