<HTML><HEAD> <META charset=US-ASCII http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1106" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff"> <DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Greetings, </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>         That looks like a great method I am going to try it. It works with new hammers, does it work with very old hammers that are hard? Today I had a job to soften the tone of this ca,1920's piano's hammers. No matter how much I needled the things they were like stale dry pieces of bread.. o...r... ancient marshmellows of antiquity..... I even shallow needled the "forbidden" strike zone (oooOOO NO,, MR BILL.. DONT....oo...oooo  O NOoooooo!}  (thats what I say to myself when  I have to needle the crown...even if its shallowly, I feel guilty) I almost couldn't do a dang thing with them. Well, the tone <EM>did </EM>get <EM>alittle</EM> softer. Carding and needling did improve the tone, but <EM>not</EM> as much as I had expected.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Julia</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Reading, PA</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV> <DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>