<!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 5.50.4134.600" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT color=#000080>David,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080>Just how old is the K&C? If it's an old = upright the hammers probably needed to be replaced anyway and if it's a new upright = the hammers probably needed to be replaced anyway. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080>Just why is the customer 'understandably' = reluctant to replace the hammers. If it is a financial reluctance, I understand. = Otherwise, this is a fairly basic repair procedure these days and, depending on the = nature of the liquid that got in there, will probably be the most reliable solution.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080>Before trying to do any hardening, you = probably should do what you can to clean out whatever goop is in there by finding an = appropriate solvent and 'washing' the stuff out, but even if it the liquid was pure = water some permanent changes to the hammer's structure will have taken place. = (In the case of a new K&C, this may actually be an = improvement.)</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080> <DIV><FONT color=#000080>If you do end up trying to clean the stuff = out, be sure to cover you backsides by explaining that the voice of the piano may = never be uniform across this area again. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080></FONT> </DIV>Del</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; = BORDER-LEFT: #000080 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=davidlovepianos@earthlink.net href="mailto:davidlovepianos@earthlink.net">David Love</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A = title=pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> August 31, 2001 10:13 = AM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> wet hammers</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>I have a commercial customer with a Kohler and = Camp. upr used in a practice room type setting.  Someone spilled some = liquid on the top of the piano and it seeped through the hinge and got several (15+) = bass hammers wet.  They died.  The customer is = understandably reluctant to replace (my recommendation).  Before I do that, I = thought I would experiment trying to bring back some tone by hardening.  = Has anyone tried anything under similar circumstances and with what result?  = </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>David Love</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>