<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1400" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>Hi Julia,</FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>Try plucking the string.</FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>If it improves the sound, then there might be a gain from hammer work.</FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>If not, then it is the strings, or a bass bridge problem, that should be investigated.</FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>Regards,</FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV>John M. Ross<BR>Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada<BR><A href="mailto:jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca">jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca</A></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE 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=Alpha88x@aol.com href="mailto:Alpha88x@aol.com">Alpha88x@aol.com</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> Friday, April 23, 2004 4:05 PM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> bass hammers sound "tubby" when played</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">greetings,<BR><BR>            When the bass hammers of a particular turn of the century upright are played they sound "tubby", a very "round" dull sound. Would these hammers be a candidate for hardening solution or is it the strings' quality? I think it is the hammers because the bass hammers have hardly any grooves and show little wear.<BR>Suggestions?<BR><BR>Julia Gottchall,<BR>Reading, PA</FONT> </FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>