<HTML><HEAD></HEAD> <BODY> Say, I would check with= "Roger Jolly and his Amazing Steaming Machine...OK, I got= carried away...there is no machine but Roger is having good= results lightly steaming, which pops up the grooves and then= ironing to bring up the tone...I am going to try it on my= Yamahas at the SF Ballet...at least one of them...;-] David I.   ----- Original message= ----------------------------------------> From: <<A= href="mailto:Wimblees@aol.com">Wimblees@aol.com</A>> To:= <<A= href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A>> Rec= eived: Tue, 22 Oct 2002 09:58:09 EDT Subject: Re:= let-off In a message dated 10/21/02= 10:17:49 PM Central Daylight Time, John5828@austin.rr.com= writes: <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px;= BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"= TYPE="CITE">In setting let-off in heavily played pianos, is it= beneficial to set let-off a little further away from the= string than normal to reduce hammer wear? I've got a couple= of new Yamaha C2's in dance studio environments and I= want the hammers to last a long time.  (In fact, I've= had let-off set just slightly low and my plan seems to be= working.) thanks, G.= Voltaggio</BLOCKQUOTE> To answer your question= directly, yes, a little more let off will reduce hammer wear.= But it will also cause strings to break. So it's up to you which= you want to do, replace strings, or shape hammers. But= why do you want to "save" the hammers on these two pianos? Are= they yours, or do they belong to the dance school? In either= case, heavy use causes hammers to wear out. That's called= "normal wear and tear" for a dance studio piano. Increasing let= off m Personally, I would leave the let off where it is, and= inform the customer to start saving up for those new hammers.= Wim </BODY></HTML>