<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Re: Hammer softening</TITLE>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16525" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Thank you all who responded to my question.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Gary Fluke</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Snohomish, WA</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=pianotuner@embarqmail.com
href="mailto:pianotuner@embarqmail.com">Alan Barnard</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, October 02, 2007 3:26
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Hammer softening</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<P>It is no more dangerous than household bleach, ammonia, CA glue, isopropyl
(rubbing) alcohol, airplane glue, contact cement and a lot of other
stuff we use in the all-American household. <BR><BR>A. Use in well
ventilated area<BR>B. Avoid getting on skin, wash off if you do<BR>C.
Don't drink it<BR><BR>Alan Barnard<BR>Salem, MO<BR><BR></P>
<DIV
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 5px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 3px solid; PADDING-TOP: 5px">
<HR>
Original message<BR>From: "Avery Todd"
<PTUNER1@GMAIL.COM></PTUNER1@GMAIL.COM><BR>To: "Pianotech List"
<PIANOTECH@PTG.ORG></PIANOTECH@PTG.ORG><BR>Received: 10/2/2007 4:38:48
PM<BR>Subject: Re: Hammer softening<BR><BR>
<DIV align=left>Sorry, it's not worth the risk to me! See: <A
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanol">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanol</A></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV>Especially scroll on down to the bottom to "Health and Safety". </DIV>
<DIV><BR>Avery Todd<BR> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=gmail_quote>On 10/2/07, <B class=gmail_sendername>Michael
Kurta</B> <<A
href="mailto:mkurta@roadrunner.com">mkurta@roadrunner.com</A>>
wrote:</SPAN>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote
style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">
<DIV bgcolor="#ffffff">
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma size=2> Hi Gary:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma size=2> This is a direct quote from
the Baldwin service manual:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma size=2> "For a Softer Tone: A
mixture of 25% water and 75% methanol can be applied to the hammers to
produce a mellower tone in Baldwin hammers. Care should be taken not
to apply to stapled areas. The solution can be applied to the
shoulders for moderate changes or to the strike point for more severe
changes. It is recommended in most cases not to apply the solution to
the top octave and lowest octave since these areas usually require more tone
accentuation to be musically pleasing. It takes about 20-30 minutes
for the solution to work. Fine voicing can then be performed with
shallow needling to the hammers as needed to provide a consistent note to
note tone." </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma size=2> I've used this solution for
years and found it to work well.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma size=2>Methanol BTW, is non-permanent anti-freeze and
can sometimes be found at farm supply stores. Its also found in
windshield washer fluid, but I'm not sure what else is in there and the
proportion of water to methanol. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma size=2></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma size=2> Mike Kurta, Syracuse
chapter </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma size=2> Mike Kurta, Syracuse
chapter</FONT></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>