[CAUT] Alcohol/water on Yamaha hammers

[David Love]

I still think you have to make your position known but in a diplomatic way.
Disagreement should be allowed in such a situation and I don't think you
should fear stating your case.  You can make your points without trashing
the other person.  I would explain as clearly a possible what the down sides
are, what will likely happen to the tone, why it may have projection
problems, how that doesn't fit into it's current use on stage, what that
will mean once the work is done if the result is less than satisfactory,
what the alternatives are that are more controllable and can be approached
in a more gradual way, that Yamaha doesn't advise using this treatment on
their pianos for all the reasons given.  Then stand back and let them
decide.  My experience suggests that belief tends to trump knowledge in
these cases.  Remind them that this operation tends to produce the best
results when the moon is in Pisces.  To quote Carl Sagan, "It's a demon
haunted world".   

David Love
davidlovepianos@comcast.net 

-----Original Message-----
From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of Jeff
Stickney
Sent: Friday, January 06, 2006 6:02 PM
To: College and University Technicians
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Alcohol/water on Yamaha hammers

List,

Thank you for your responses so far.  The CFIII is from 1994, so as some 
of you have indicated it might be a candidate for that treatment.  
However, I don't trust the other tech to know what he is doing enough to 
do it right.  This all comes at a time when I have been pushing for a 
1/2 time staff position (currently a $12,000/year contract - no surprise 
the Yamaha isn't maintained the way it should be - plus it competes with 
a Steinway D on stage and gets less use).  We are also scheduled for a 
Steinway Inventory Evaluation in a couple weeks.  To add to the 
complication, the adjunct went to the Dean - over the head of the chair 
of the department - and the adjunct's dad bought/donated the piano to 
the U.  OK, so there you have the tip of the politics.  It goes on, but 
you get the gist.  It's starting to feel like a no-win, but at least the 
majority opinion seems to be that alcohol/water is not the approach of 
choice.

Any more input would certainly be helpful - I love this list for the 
opportunity to "think through" a situation like this.  Thanks.

Jeff Stickney
UM

Jeff Stickney wrote:
> List:
>
> I have a Yamaha CFIII here at UM.  Because of a political situation 
> too complex to describe, an adjunct piano faculty here wants to bring 
> in his "personal technician" to voice and regulate the piano.  He 
> wants to use an alcohol/water solution on the hammers to voice.  The 
> last piano he did this on (a Kawai KG-2D) was turned to mush, and I am 
> concerned that is what would happen to our 9' Yamaha.  Do any of you 
> have experience using this solution on Yamaha hammers, and have they 
> been good or bad?  Of course, I'm not happy about them bringing in 
> this other "tech", but it may be unavoidable due to the politics.  
> Thanks for any input.
>
> Jeff Stickney
> University of Montana
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