<HTML><HTML>Greetings,              We = were told in piano tech school NOT to needle hammers right on the crown. Upo= n arriving home from 9 months at tech school, I was Jones-ing to refurbish m= y old upright and needle the hammers in my Yamaha U3, as the tone was harsh = on both pianos.             &nbs= p; Well, I first did the old upright's hammers. Needled the "shoulders of th= e hammers careful to not go near the crowns. Put the action back in the pian= o and I heard hardly no change. That horrible harsh, explosive, glassy sound= prevailed. So, I decided to slightly needle just a few of the offenders ali= ttle closer to the crown. No difference...tried alittle further into the cro= wns....To make a long story short, I didn't alleviate the harsh tone till I = deeply pounded the needle right in the crowns of the things! What gives?             &nbs= p;  I got the results I wanted, namely a more mellow tone, but only whe= n I did exactly what I was told NOT to do. Julia Gottchall, Reading, PA</HTML>