<HTML>List, After tuning thousandss of pianos over the last couple of decades, I had= an experience yesterday that was a first for me.  It was a brand new u= pright piano, a brand new model manufactured in the southeastern US. I was t= uning the in the mid-treble when the D-66 hammer snapped.  No, not the = shank.  The hammer snapped right at the beginning of the felt where it = tapers onto the molding.   I admit to pounding fairly hard when I tune, and perhaps my pending divo= rce had something to do with the ferocity of the blow(:-), but this was a ne= w one on me.  Anyone else ever seen this?   Dave Stahl</HTML>