<!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></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@ptg.org</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> September 28, 2001 11:18 = AM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Unlacquered S&S = hammers: was Re: Tensioned hammers and "the staple"</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Del:</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Do you actually find that you can get enough tone = out of an unlacquered S&S hammer, especially from the 5th octave up?  I = would be interested to know what your method is.  Do you remove lots of = felt from the top?  I have, in the past, attempted to use their = hammers without lacquer, but I found that in order to get enough tone I had to = remove so much felt that it created other problems (tail length in = particular).  </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Thanks,</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>David Love <HR> </FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV dir=ltr><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV dir=ltr><FONT size=2>Match the new soundboards with the new = scales. It's what I talk about in my classes--almost no secrets left.</FONT></DIV> <DIV dir=ltr><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV dir=ltr><FONT size=2>I do sand the hammers, but it's mostly to = take off just a bit of felt below the parting line and clean up the surface. I = take off what I consider to be excess felt through the upper third, but it's not = an excessive amount. We keep a lot of resilience in the hammers. = </FONT></DIV> <DIV dir=ltr><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV dir=ltr><FONT size=2>Del</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>