<font color='black' size='2' face='Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, Serif'><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif">Greetings, </font> <div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; ">     I just returned fr<font class="Apple-style-span" size="2">om my distant work, and I used acetone/lacquer for the hammer juice.  These were S&S hammers I installed in 2003.  I had done a medium/ light soak of the shoulders with a 5/1 ratio at the time.  It wasn't enough , and they never developed that round, punchy, sound with a slight shimmer around the edges for definition that would gradually turn to steely edge when FF was reached.  </font></div> <div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="2">      So, I rehardened them.  I used 5/1 acetone/lacquer.  The top octave or so got a full eyedropper, right over the crown, soaking the entire felt. As I moved farther down the scale, I began soaking into the shoulders again, letting the wet spot from both sides meet in the middle at the tip of the core.  By the middle of the piano, I also began adding  the hardener to the sides of the hammer, with the tip of the eyedropper directly over the tip of the core.  I made a wet spot about 70% the size of the hammer,and I did it just from the treble side, figuring,what the hell, this might make the una corda really special.  </font></div> <div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="2"> </font></div> <div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="2">    I did this with a preplanned return trip in two weeks, (after getting married on the 22nd), to prep it for a concerto.  I was told to favor excessive brilliance that could be brought down at that time, rather than risk needing another juicing the day before the performance, since I would not be there to follow up, and am loathe to blindly throw a lacquering job into a concert setting.  </font></div> <div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="2">       It worked.  By the end of the day, 8 hours had passed with a fan blowing on the hammer line anytime I had it out.  There was a definite crispness to the whole piano, and those notes that heretofore had refused to yelp when </font><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; "> really </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; "> pounded upon, are now willing and eager speak their mind.  That was in one day.  I managed a quick look at the piano the following morning, and it was slightly brighter than the previous evening.  Nothing was totally pinging, but there was a slight aroma of acetone in the a.m. so I suspect more effect will be forthcoming as the lacquer, wilted by a tide of solvent flooding in, slowly settles back into its stiffer state. </span></div> <div><br> <div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; clear: both; "><font color="black" face="arial" size="2">Ed Foote RPT<br> http://www.piano-tuners.org/edfoote/index.html</font></div> <div style="color: black; "> <div id="AOLMsgPart_0_144c6dd5-8bc9-4486-914a-036fb4128848" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><pre><tt> <font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif" size="2">>></font>I use keytops in acetone all the time. You can speed it up with a hair dryer and get pretty predictable results in 2 hours. Doug Gregg </tt></pre> </div>  </div> </div> </font>