[CAUT] S&S Hammers and lacquer

[Delwin D Fandrich]

| -----Original Message-----
| From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On 
| Behalf Of Douglas Wood
| Sent: September 20, 2007 4:58 PM
| To: College and University Technicians
| Subject: [CAUT] S&S Hammers and lacquer
| 
| I keep hearing contradictory things about the nearly-mythical 
| '20's Steinway piano hammers, particularly regarding the use 
| of lacquer.  
| Many independent technicians are convinced that they do not 
| contain lacquer, or at least very little. This does not seem 
| to agree with my experience. And I have asked at least 6 
| different, very knowledgeable, senior technicians employed by 
| Steinway about it, and they all have agreed that to their 
| knowledge, every Model D Steinway ever issued from the 
| factory (NY) has had lacquer (or its precursor) in all 88 
| hammers. This includes Joe Bisceglie, who probably had the 
| earliest involvement with the company.
| 
| So, can any of you provide hard evidence of a factory hammer 
| in a D without? I'd really like to know.

Lacquer did not come along until after the end of WW I. They had to find
something to do with all that leftover nitrocellulose. Nor is there any evidence
I am aware of indicating that hammers were hardened with any kind of chemical
solution prior to that time. And, with the extensive discussions in Piano Tone
Building about hammer voicing -- needling, sanding, ironing, etc. -- I'd think
if any chemical hardening was going on they'd have at least mentioned it. 

While I have no hard evidence I am quite convinced the original hammers I used
to see (during the 1960s and 1970s) on Steinway pianos built during the 1920s
and 1930s did not use lacquer or any other chemical hardening. (Other than the
potash -- reinforcing -- mixture in the shoulders, of course.) 

Del
Delwin D Fandrich
Piano Design & Manufacturing Consultant
620 South Tower Avenue
Centralia, Washington 98531  USA
Phone  360.736-7563
<mailto:fandrich at pianobuilders.com>