[CAUT] Alcohol/water on Yamaha hammers

Susan Kline skline@peak.org
Fri, 06 Jan 2006 20:30:45 -0800


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Jeff, I hear what everyone else is saying -- and I partly concur.

That said, I have experience using alcohol and water on a variety of
instruments, from rock-hard high-decibel Hamiltons and new small
Samick uprights to (with great restraint, in certain very
specialized applications!) Steinway grands. Even a 7-foot Yamaha ...
several times. In fact, the 7-foot Yamaha is the piano I have
dosed with alcohol the most. So I might as well share what I have found.

First, this Yamaha is the closest relative of the piano they are
considering letting the other guy work on. Mine was about ten years old,
and was sold second-hand to a big church with lots of amplified
music. They had a real pounder playing it a lot. After a year or
two of this, I carefully filed the hammers a little, so that the
string grooves weren't allowed to lengthen and start breaking wire.
The piano had gotten terribly brassy, especially in the high treble.
"Harsh enough to break glass" was how I felt about the top octave.

After filing the hammers to a better shape, I used alcohol on the
strike points in the sections which were harsher than I could
tolerate. When I say I used alcohol (with water, to 100 proof) I mean
that I used a few drops per hammer directly into the string grooves
in the tenor, tapering to one small drop on each hammer in the top
octave. Then I made a second pass, getting a handful of truly
obnoxious and stubborn hammers, laying enough alcohol in (at the
strike point) to soak down to about 11 o'clock and 1 o'clock on the
shoulders. (I keep a plastic dropper bottle of it in my kit,
inside a ziploc bag.) Kneading the (wet) grooves with my thumbnail
helped, too.

About three months later -- some areas were still all right, but around
the middle, up to octave 6, had hardened up again. I gave a similar
dose, but only to the places and individual hammers which asked for it.

About three months later again -- most was exactly as I had left it,
but maybe five or six hammers had hardened. I repeated the alcohol,
but only on the five or six.

This was about five years ago. The pounder took a break, then came
back and started pounding again. The hammers are about ready for
another filing.

Now, for the caveat: The first two visits suggested that the hammers
gradually pack back in after *!!*!*modest*!*!!* amounts of alcohol
have gone into the strike points. HOWEVER, the third visit and
subsequent visits prove that they harden back up only to a certain
degree, and after that they perhaps _never do_, even when the hammers
get beaten on enough to wear the ends flat.

I have considered trying ironing and shellac (just behind the strike
point, or possibly dripped into the sides, but not directly between
the strike point and the molding) to see if a hammer which got a little
too much alcohol might come back to life. I've never done this, though,
and I have no idea to what extent overdosing with alcohol is retrievable.
I try not to get into that situation in the first place.

A second caveat: I attended a convention class where someone (who
shall remain nameless) had used alcohol -- but instead of using two
or three drops, this tech had dipped the hammers. In spite of listening to
praise to the skies for the wonderful tone this gave, I found that
the hammers had absolutely no focus at all. (and probably never would
again.) Tone is a matter of taste, but I certainly would not let
hammers in that condition stay on a concert piano in a hall.

A third caveat: I believe I remember hearing that Yamaha had so much
trouble with people over-steaming hammers that they started saying
steam would void the warranty. Jeff, if you want ammunition to prevent
this procedure with alcohol, you might phone Yamaha and find out
their policy with regard to alcohol and water in their hammers.

That said, on extremely rare occasions I reach for alcohol for
good pianos. For high quality grands where someone has over-juiced
the top octave, so it is hard as glass, I find that one drop
of vodka per hammer (NOT REPEATED!) can put a tiny amount of cushion
back into the tone, without gutting the attack. One's options
way up high are limited, anyway. There is so little felt that either
filing or needling is problematic, and there is really not enough
felt to squeeze.

Fabric softener I consider an abomination. Alcohol -- a very useful
tool for certain types of pianos, but it must be treated with
great respect. I can see how it got a bad reputation -- because
it only takes a few people over-using it to give it a bad name.

I also have tried steaming, and watched Roger do his thing in a class.
For me, steaming is too fast and makes too big a change. Alcohol
is more controllable, within certain limits. One can put a small
quantity where it is needed, slowly and carefully. At least, it
tears no felt and leaves nothing behind, and is non-toxic. (And it
won't give you a burn, like steaming or ironing ...)

If someone knows what they are doing, you might be surprised by
hearing good results on the CFIII -- but the Kawai KG-2D mush
suggests that this may not be a tech who can act with sufficient
discretion.

Anyway, if you issue caveats, you should be in the clear. _You_
didn't ask them to bring someone in!

And this is my experience with alcohol and water on piano hammers ...
except that I can say one thing: when I meet a console which sounds
simply goshawful, hard as nails, with grooves like chasms,
alcohol lets me do a voicing in two passes, taking about five
minutes, with great improvement. Of course, this is not the
sort of piano one would do over and over again, so the
irreversibility wouldn't be an issue.

No matter what the provocation, I would never let the alcohol
get below 10 a.m. or 2 p.m. (clock face) on any hammer shoulder.
If that much alcohol doesn't do the trick, I use deep needling.
The combination I find more effective than either alone.

Susan

At 05:50 PM 1/6/2006 -0700, you 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
>_______________________________________________
>caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives

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