[CAUT] lacquer

[Horace Greeley]

Hi, Fred,

At 06:26 PM 6/16/2006, you wrote:
>On 6/16/06 2:11 PM, "Donald McKechnie" <dmckech at ithaca.edu> wrote:
>
>List,
>
>I just had a look at the gallon of lacquer I 
>received from the good folks at Steinway two 
>weeks ago. It is the good stuff! I was at the 
>factory damper seminar and had a great 
>discussion with Eric, Chad and Michael about their lacquer and other things.
>
>I was at Steinway in April, and we had lunch 
>with a factory guy involved in the new process 
>of pre-lacquering hammers (all hammer sets are 
>now dipped prior to being sliced. In part this 
>is to facilitate an even slicing job, in part to 
>standardize the beginning state of all hammers 
>and eliminate the variability of what is done 
>later). He (the name slipped immediately from my 
>mind, though his face I can recall with no 
>problem) told us something quite interesting: 
>that Steinway had changed lacquer suppliers 
>within the last year (because the “water white” 
>from the previous supplier was too yellow – note 
>that the hammer guys take their lacquer from the 
>case finishing folks, it is not ordered 
>specifically for hammers from what they tell 
>me), and the hammer lacquering folks weren’t 
>aware of it. Changed from 12% solids to 24%. 
>Once they found out, they changed from 3:1 to 5 
>or 6:1 dilution. (Obviously there was an 
>intermediate period where hammers had “double 
>strength” lacquer. I asked. He didn’t want to talk about it and was evasive).

The factory has used this procedure for decades, 
varying the solution anywhere from 3:1 - 10:1, 
depending on who you spoke with during any given 
period, and, as you note, also depending on 
variation in whatever supply they were getting 
from the finish department, which is where they 
have historically taken voicing material.

>     Going back to Debra’s question, 
> nitrocellulose can be found in a few places (as 
> pointed out by several), though “water white” 
> is quite hard to come by. I was quoted, I 
> think, $30 - $40 per gallon, minimum four 
> gallon case, special order, from my local 
> Sherwin Williams “Industrial” store. The 
> regular “retail” SW stores never heard of 
> lacquer, let alone nitro. And the industrial 
> couldn’t find water white either (standard 
> clear was no problem), until I gave them the 
> specific number I think I got a couple years 
> ago from a post from Charles Ball (on caut 
> list, check archives). But I believe that is 
> purely an aesthetic thing. I hear no tonal 
> difference using “off the shelf” clear gloss 
> (Kadallac is the brand I have available), and 
> the yellow tint is barely noticeable. I have 
> never experimented with acrylic. I have 
> theorized it would be more “plastic” and less 
> brittle, hence would behave differently in 
> response to needling. But that’s just 
> theorizing. Sounds like others have found 
> little difference there, either. Acrylic and 
> nitro do use different thinners in some 
> formulations. Generic lacquer thinner doesn’t 
> work for the acrylic black lacquer I use in case touch up.

The effect, as you note is largely aesthetic, and 
part of the lore years ago was that the move to 
lacquer for hardening hammers occurred as much 
because of the complaints from the marketing 
folks about the "discoloration" as it did from 
the loss of the older Wurzen-style felt (and, far 
enough back, the use of varnish for the finish).

The acrylic piece has to do with the way in which 
the lacquer catalyzes, not because it contains 
plastics.  The difference in voicing is less 
noticeable than the difference between using 
finish lacquer as against using lacquer sanding 
sealer.  Again, as you note, one does have to be 
careful with which thinners one uses, the wrong 
ones can turn your lacquer into a useless ball.

Best.

Horace


>Regards,
>Fred Sturm
>University of New Mexico
>
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