[CAUT] Hamburg Steinway Hammer Voicing (Up)

[Ed Sutton]

Because I work mostly with German hammers, and only re-hammer a few pianos a year, I don't have a broad experience with hardeners. My choice, when I need it, is blond shellac in alcohol. The shellac flakes have an eternal shelf life, and the alcohol is non-toxic (unless you drink it!). Apply last of the day, and it is fully hardened next morning. Small applications can be accelerated with a hair dryer. Too much shellac can be easily flushed out. There is historical precedent for using shellac.

It sounds like collodion would be much faster. Perhaps ether could be used to make a fast drying shellac?

How I wish some well-funded, objective researcher would test several sets of hammers using all the different materials and give us a comprehensive report!

Ed S.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Fred Sturm 
  To: Ed Sutton ; caut at ptg.org 
  Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 2010 11:56 AM
  Subject: Re: [CAUT] Hamburg Steinway Hammer Voicing (Up)


  On Jul 28, 2010, at 9:50 AM, Ed Sutton wrote:


    When we add juices to hammers, are we trying to bind or cement the wool fibers together, or are we trying to size and stiffen the individual fibers? I tend to think we are sizing and stiffening the fibers, using very thin solutions which partially penetrate and coat the fibers. Is this better done by something stiff or flexible, or does it matter?


  Well put. That is along the lines of the questions I have been asking. I think like you that we are trying to stiffen individual fibers, and whether stiff or flexible is better is an open question, one that probably doesn't have a definitive answer.
  While I have heard people talk about using collodion, usually thinned with ether, I am not at all clear whether they meant stiff or flexible. I think it likely they meant stiff, in which case it is simply the same thing (essentially) as lacquer with acetone (to speed drying, like ether would do).

  Regards,
  Fred Sturm
  fssturm at unm.edu
  http://www.createculture.org/profile/FredSturm

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