I know, the correct answer is "none", but hear me out... I just did an evaluation on an actually rather pretty Winter spinet from the 40s (post ivory, pre plastic elbows). The piano has sentimental value, has been in the family a long time, and was refinished (skillfully) by the wife's father. It's one of those ornate "grand lyre" style cases with beautifully book-matched semi-burled walnut. Besides a handful of other more minor problems, the big one is that the hammer felt is falling off. A few hammers have been replaced (poorly), some have been "repaired" with a thumb tack, about 6 are missing felt completely, and quite a few more are starting to tear off. I told the customer that the piano cannot be made playable without new hammers, and they want to go ahead with the repairs. The customer is pleased with the tone/touch of the piano as-is, so my goal is to match the character and weight of the original hammers as closely as possible. Will I be able to buy hammers that are small/soft enough to be appropriate? Cold or hot pressed? Are there any unique problems involved in rehammering a spinet? I get the impression spinets seldom (if ever) get new hammers, so I was wondering if there was any reason besides the obvious "costs more than the piano is worth" issue, which is not a relevant factor in this case. -kurt -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20110105/e3a665dd/attachment.htm>
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