[CAUT] lacquer

[Donald McKechnie]

Fred,

Basically the same message I heard. Thanks for the details. I don't  
remember him saying that the old stuff was too yellow. The new  
lacquer they use is very white. Comparing the Steinway vs. U.S.  
Cellulose I have, the Steinway is a bit lighter. But, the U.S.  
Cellulose is about 1 year old.

Don

Don McKechnie
Piano Technician
Ithaca College
dmckech at ithaca.edu
607-274-3908




On Jun 16, 2006, at 10:45 PM, caut-request at ptg.org wrote:

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

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