[CAUT] tone building for impatient pianists

Fred Sturm fssturm at unm.edu
Thu Nov 20 18:20:05 PST 2008


On Nov 20, 2008, at 6:57 PM, David Love wrote:

> I should add that the dilution you use will depend on the solids  
> content of the lacquer you are using.

	This is a VERY important point. For a long time the Steinway techs  
based their recommendations on the lacquer they got out of the  
factory, which was already diluted for spraying. Then Eric Schandall  
checked the solids ratio and found that it was, as I recall off the  
top of my head (please don't take this as gospel), about 11-12%, or  
about half the normal 20-25%. Unfortunately, not all lacquer labels  
give solids ratios. And, of course, if you've had it around a while, a  
bunch of solvent may have evaporated, making it thicker. To check my  
own supply, I weighed a small amount in a bottle cap (weighed the  
bottle cap empty first), then set it to evaporate and weighed again  
dry after a couple weeks.
	It's a real problem trying to make sense of various people's  
recommendations and warnings when we don't really have the same  
standard. This is just by way of warning to the unwary: take the  
ratios with a grain of salt, and use your own experience and judgment.  
WIth some experience, you can tell by the look and consistency, but  
saying "like water" or something along those lines isn't really  
precise enough.

Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu


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