> Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:06:08 -0400 "Wolfley, Eric (wolfleel)" < > > Israel, > > The official word I got from them and others there at the factory including Kent Webb and Eric Schandall is that each set of hammers is pre-soaked before installation in 3:1 lacquer/acetone. The whole set is dipped for 30 seconds is what I was told. In the later voicing operations they will apply more 3:1 acetone/lacquer to the crown if they think it is necessary. My experience with these pianos as well as with other sets from Steinway I have ordered and installed is that more often than not more lacquering is necessary, especially in the high treble and bass. I don't know of any "plasicky" stuff that is being used at Steinway. Eric, My experience has been similar when I used them before - additional lacquering is needed where you mentioned. But on this particular piano, nothing we did brought the tone up to anywhere near being adequate for concert stage use - and especially in the 5th and 6th octaves (and this was a "powerhouse" piano before...). And it was quite obvious (after tapering) that there was something soaked into them much deeper than what a 30-second dip would suggest. Perhaps it was lacquer - someone who saw the color of the stuff said otherwise. Rather bright yellow... In any case, those hammers ended up being rock hard - which is why we had to rinse them out. They are sounding better now, after light lacquering, than they ever did the first time around... I am glad you are getting good results. Margie and I did not - and we both have done a lot of this before with much better results. Perhaps this was a "lemon" set that some factory hand let sit in the "dip" for a lot longer than 30 seconds... I am not taking any more chances. Steinway does supply un-pre-hardened hammers on special order, and in the future I will use those when Steinway hammers are called for. In retrospect, I prefer to decide where to put the lacquer and how much of it to put where - rather than depend on some "standard" factory process which could turn out to be not all that standard... Best regards, Israel Stein
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