Hi, Ed, Jon, et al, At 09:23 AM 1/10/2001 -0500, you wrote: > jon writes: > ><<The older hammers filed with ease, was that due to shellac in the hammer or >lacquer or a better hammer making process. I bet the later.>> > >I generally autopsy hammers before I throw them away, and have cut open a lot >of older Steinway hammers. I don't see evidence of hardener in there before >the 1950's. I know, they say that the hammers have always had a hardener >put in them, but I don't believe that. A 1930 bass hammer, when cut open >and the felt worked back and forth until it frays, doesn't seem to have >anything in there at all, and soaking the pieces with alcohol doesn't seem to >change anything, which it would do if there was shellac imbedded in the felt. The autopsy is a really good thing to do. And, in general, I agree with Ed about hardener; although, I have seen some hammer sets from C&A instruments from the period which seemed to have shellac in them. At the same time, I do not think that this was normal retail practice. > I think the new hammers are made from felt that is cut poorly, allowing > the >felting layers to be so non-continuous that when taken out of the cauls, any >attempt to shape them will, like as not, follow a "grain" line directly into >the hammer instead of following the contour around the edges. I remember the >Yamaha hammers of the the late '70's vintage doing much the same thing, even >though they were harder to begin with. Anybody else got ideas? Not only is the felt poorly cut, it is processed very differently. The wool is left in acid longer, which breaks down the longer, more curly fibers that used to be so prevalent in older hammers (roughly pre-1955/56 Wickert felt). So, the fibers themselves, while being more uniform, and more easily felted, do not produce the same felt as was possible previously. In shaping them, one has to establish, in a sense, not the grain, but the acceptable shape of the hammer. Just-from-the-press does not work well. > I don't mind adding lacquer to the new Steinway hammers before I do >anything else, I haven't seen a new set in years that didn't ultimately need >more than I thought possible. Our new ones at Vanderbilt have the professors >gnashing teeth,(after all this IS Gnashville!), and bewailing the deadness of >their new pianos. I have been holding back adding any more lacqer, hoping >that a semester or two will bring the hammers up, but I had to harden one set >on the direct request of a teacher. I hardened the shoulders with two >eyedropper fulls of the 4:1 and it made a little difference. She was >thrilled. I hope that it will just speed up the break-in and not leave us >with a real twanger next year. I agree that I have not seen anything (in probably nearly 30 years) that did not really need some kind of hardening. At the same time, I do prefer to shape before adding any hardener. The newer instruments will need hardening. Simple. The amount is going to vary with each situation. In some cases, 4:1 (lacquer thinner:lacquer) is the right thing to use. In others, perhaps thinner combinations, or use of lacquer sanding sealer or shellac is appropriate or more reasonable. I certainly use, but prefer not to use, acetone as a carrier as it evaporates too quickly, wicking whatever hardening agent to the edges and/or leaving "lumps". Ditto for keytop - which was originally goniffed from European makers by Chris Arena (while he was working in the service department at Steinway Hall). In this latter iteration, it was applied only very thinly to bring up "highlights" on specific instruments which were part of pending sales. The lamentable and annoying progression from this light usage into the concert basement is a misuse of the technique. Best. Horace ********************************************* Horace Greeley, CNA, MCP, RPT Systems Analyst/Engineer Controller's Office, Stanford University 651 Serra St., RM 100 Stanford, CA 94305 Voice: 650.725.9062 Fax: 650.725.8014 *********************************************
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