new Steinway hammers (was Flexible collodion...)

[Newton Hunt]

Hi Ed,

Yes, weather does change all hammers some.  The "weather resistance"
may well have been a justification for using hardener.

since Newton is sitting on BUSHELS of experience!(:)}})

That must be why I am such a pain in the butt.

Hardening is done in the factory so they get "tone" right now.  By the
time the piano is purchased the tone is not the same.  It would be
interesting to weigh a hammer before hardening and then again after. 
Extra mass increases the volume of sound (translates as power).  All
those who do refinishing with lacquer know that it takes weeks for the
lacquer to harden enough to take the pressure of moving the piano
without damaging the surface of the finish.

In the same way the stiffer the lacquer makes the felt the "stiffer"
the tone will be.

I am convinced (thanks to Del) that hardening hammers is to compensate
for poor sb design or installation.

		Newton

A440A@aol.com wrote:
> 
> Newton writes;
> > One explanation I got was that lacquer was weather resistant,
> >the hammers don't change from one season to the next.  Maybe so but
> >lacquer takes weeks and months to get it's permanent hardness.
> 
> Greetings,
>       I have used lacquer and seen the tone change from season to season,
> also.  The hammers sound softer in the damp weather, and brighter in the dry
> heat middle of winter.  However, I notice this same phenom with hammers that
> have no lacquer in them, so I have always laid it to the behaviour of felt.
>     As far as the lacquer taking so long to achieve its final hardness, I
> must question, (albeit gingerly, since Newton is sitting on BUSHELS of
> experience!(:)}}) how much that "seasoning" affects the tone. So, in
> approaching that question,  I submit the following for consideration.
>     The effect on tone that comes from lacquer can be traced in two ways.
> Lacquer is basically "gluing" the fibers together, preventing their movement.
>  In the shoulder, lacquer limits how far the hammer can deform on contact,
> concentrating the impact deformation in the hammer's crown to molding area,
> (the area of compression). (IME) the difference in this "gluing" between a
> day or a week's drying time will not be so great. Indeed, I have soaked just
> the shoulders of new Steinway hammers with a 3:1 mix, and the following day
> noticed an increase in power that didn't seem to change much after that.
>    The use of lacquer up near the strike point is something else.  When I
> have done that,(country recording studios with deaf producers guiding the
> sound),  the day after is certainly brighter, but a week later, even more so.
> If I juice it so that it sounds perfect the next day,  the following week it
> will have a ping!   I ascribe this to the lacquer continuing to change the
> resilience of the compressed area.  Heavy play will exacerbate this problem
> very quickly.
>    So, it seems to me that the shoulder juicing doesn't seem to change after
> a day, but when the lacquer is under the strike point,  it gets harder and har
> der sounding, even if not played in the interim.
> Others?
> Regards,
> Ed Foote
>  (who just loves the smell of lacquer,  in fact, it sorta smells like money
> to me!)