<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16481" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial" bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM>  Hi Wayne</EM></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM> BTW.</EM></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM>   I wasn't trying to be smart or insensitive in my prior posts.  Wether I sell a piano or rebuild one I am in the same spot as you are if the client isn't happy with the voicing.  In fact I have on several occasions,  </EM></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM>at my expense changed hammers or traveled some distance to rectify voicing/other issues rather than cross swords with a client.  I want em happy ASAP.</EM></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM>    I have also recommended hammer transplants in some pianos as new as 2 years old.ie.Kawai,Yamaha Samick ,Schafers,Baldwins. I mean the factories are sometimes applying defective hammers.  It happens.    </EM></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM>    In the past I've done the heroic methods to create sound but if it doesn't work it doesn't . I am keenly aware of the conditions of hammers & there densities due to hard knocks/experience.  I'm at a place where I just have  a little less patience for diddling with a boat that's sinking.  Might as well swim & bail.</EM></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM>  That's all</EM></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM>  Hope it works out.....quickly</EM></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM>  Dale</EM></STRONG></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV><SPAN class=078271918-13062007>No, the piano is not POS. We have been selling pianos from China for about 10 years and have bought from different factories. At first we had pianos from 1 factory that were POS but this piano and others from 2 other factories are better quality. Just this one seem to have problems with the hammers. I will not tell my customer through the thing out, the piano was bought as an anniversary present by her husband from our store. I just trying to make things right for this customer, if necessary we may have to change hammers or give her another piano. I 'm trying fix the problem before we have to go to that route.</SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=078271918-13062007></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=078271918-13062007>Wayne</SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=078271918-13062007></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=078271918-13062007> <DIV align=left><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=4>Wayne Walker</FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=4>Piano Tuner / Technician</FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left> <DIV align=left><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=4></FONT></DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2><STRONG>Musicstop Acoustic Piano Service</STRONG></FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2><STRONG>264 Herring Cove Road</STRONG></FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2><STRONG>Halifax, NS, Canada</STRONG></FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2><STRONG>B3P 1M1</STRONG></FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left> <DIV align=left><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2><STRONG>902-221-1540</STRONG></FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2><STRONG>902-496-0041 Fax</STRONG></FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><STRONG><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2><A title=http://www.musicstop.com/ href="http://www.musicstop.com/">www.musicstop.com</A></FONT></STRONG></DIV></DIV></SPAN></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV></DIV> <DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> Joy McNabb [mailto:joyfmb@msn.com] <BR><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, June 13, 2007 10:25 AM<BR><B>To:</B> Pianotech List<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: Steam treating hard hammers<BR><BR></FONT></DIV> <DIV> <DIV>Is the Chinese piano a PSO?  I am having to play on a Hallet-Davis new baby grand that sounds like a  piece of junk-won't hold a tune and I don't even think voicing will help this POS.  Through the thing out!!!</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Joy McNabb</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>From:</B> <A title=mailto:piano57@insightbb.com href="mailto:piano57@insightbb.com">Barbara Richmond</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=mailto:pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech List</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, June 11, 2007 8:17 PM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Steam treating hard hammers</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Hi Wayne,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Hmm.  Is this a grand or an upright?  What are the accoustics in the room like?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>I haven't worked on any Chinese pianos. (What?! How could that be?)  Did you just treat the crown, or did you work on the shoulders, too?  Sorry, since I haven't worked on any of these I can only think in general terms of voicing, so I'm just guessing.  What type of needling did you do?  Needles, shallow and perpendicular to the crown?--or taking longer stitches under the string groves?  Anyway, on hard pressed hammers, just taking a swipe at the crown probably isn't going to give lasting or satisfactory results.  It would be best to soften the shoulders, too--it will broaden the tone--by increasing resiliency of the hammer/increasing the sustain.  Did you try vise-grips on the shoulders?  Squeeze enough to make the hammer felt cup a bit and then needle out the cup. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>I hope something here helps.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Barbara Richmond, RPT</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>living a protected life near Peoria, IL   </FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=mailto:wayne.w@musicstop.com href="mailto:wayne.w@musicstop.com">Wayne Walker</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=mailto:pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, June 11, 2007 2:34 PM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Steam treating hard hammers</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=878032719-11062007><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=4>I have a customer with a newer Chinese piano with harsh sounding hammers. I have tried chemical softener, needled and the piano still sounds bad. The customer has chemical sensitivity so I can't use anything in her home now. I was there a couple of weeks ago and used the steam method on the hammers and it work great. I was happy and the customer was happy, but today she left a voice mail saying the piano is harsh sounding again. How long will the steam method last? Will I need to do this often? I just want to have a happy customer with out having to swap pianos with her.</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=878032719-11062007><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=4></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=878032719-11062007><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=4>Wayne</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=878032719-11062007><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=4></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=878032719-11062007> <DIV align=left><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=4>Wayne Walker</FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=4>Piano Tuner / Technician</FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left> <DIV align=left><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=4></FONT></DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2><STRONG>Musicstop Acoustic Piano Service</STRONG></FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2><STRONG>264 Herring Cove Road</STRONG></FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2><STRONG>Halifax, NS, Canada</STRONG></FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2><STRONG>B3P 1M1</STRONG></FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left> <DIV align=left><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2><STRONG>902-221-1540</STRONG></FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2><STRONG>902-496-0041 Fax</STRONG></FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><STRONG><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2><A title=http://www.musicstop.com/ href="http://www.musicstop.com/">www.musicstop.com</A></FONT></STRONG></DIV></DIV></SPAN></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV> </DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">See what's free at <A title="http://www.aol.com?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000503" href="http://www.aol.com?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000503" target="_blank">AOL.com</A>. </FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>