Paul, You did not mention how the hammer lacquering did not meet your expectations. Applying lacquer to hammers incorporates many techniques depending upon your goal. Generally I find that soaking the entire hammer does not produce a round tone with a strong attack -- a generalized definition of good tone. Depending upon the felt hardness you may find that a complete soaking will produce too much in the upper harmonics and leave you with weak fundamentals, though a complete soaking might be appropriate as you approach octave 7 where you would tend to want a more firm hammer (felt) throughout. Keytop acetone may be more effective in the top 4 to 6 hammers only as lacquer is generally too soft to accomplish your target hardness. Keep in mind that lacquer "plays out", and as such, breaks down in the surface area and will change the tone after a short playing period. Reapplication would be required to restore the hammer to your target tone. Another technique of applying lacquer to those hammers that may need a small "nudge" is to apply a small amount of lacquer that is thick as molasses to the crown only. This thick lacquer will not penetrate the felt as much and will increase the attack and not destroy the desirable fundamentals that may already be present. Roger Gable ----- Original Message ----- From: "Paul Milesi, RPT" <paul at pmpiano.com> To: "PTG Pianotech List" <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Sunday, January 30, 2011 8:34 AM Subject: [pianotech] Nitrocellulose Lacquer: Stirred, Shaken, or Left Alone? >I purchased a gallon of ML Campbell clear nitrocellulose lacquer and their > thinner to use to build tone in Steinway hammers. Since this lacquer is > 25% > solids, per Steinway manual I used a ratio of roughly 8:1 thinner to > lacquer. One application (hammers thoroughly soaked) did not build tone > as > I thought it would. What happened? Also, wondering now if the solids > settle, and maybe I didn't stir or shake the lacquer before using--don't > remember now. Does this matter? Thanks for any ideas. Still learning > how > to do this. > > Paul Milesi, RPT > Washington, DC > (202) 667-3136 > E-mail: paul at pmpiano.com > Website: http://www.pmpiano.com > > > >
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