"Hammer Technique"; ddf Q

[Ken Burton]

    Tom,

    I have never used lubricant on the felt you mention. So, I can only say
that others recommend Protec.

    Ken Burton "Doctor Piano" Calgary Alberta
-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Cole <tcole@cruzio.com>
To: pianotech@ptg.org <pianotech@ptg.org>
Date: Wednesday, November 11, 1998 11:32 PM
Subject: Re: "Hammer Technique"; ddf Q


>Ken,
>
>I know what you're saying about dropping the pitch first to break rust
>and static friction, to kind of burnish the bearing points, in which
>case lubrication is probably not necessary or even effective. What I was
>mostly referring to, though, was the rather large area of contact where
>the strings lay over the understring felt in the tenor section of a
>grand piano. This is where friction can increase due to rust or grit
>getting between the strings and the felt, as when someone spills a drink
>and saturates the felt. Moving the strings doesn't clear the problem.
>Are you saying that using the Smooth Pull technique handles this ?
>
>In view of the above, I think that using felt to create friction is a
>bad idea and steel or cast iron bearing surfaces are better. Del, is
>this why you're not in favor of felt in contact with strings?
>
>Ken Burton wrote:
>>
>>     Tom,
>>
>>     Actually, I am a beginner as far as the Smooth Pull technique is
>> concerned. However, I have found that moving the pin counter-clockwise
>> before beginning to pull smoothly in the clockwise direction is a must.
It
>> is not only to break the rust, etc., but to get the pin and string ready
for
>> the Smooth Pull. It has worked well for me on several occasions and some
>> Master Tuners in this area use it almost exclusively.
>>     My feeling about lubricants is that they don't help much. With the
>> "jerk" technique, any rust, etc. is broken through easily. I seldom break
>> strings.
>>
>
>--
>Thomas A. Cole RPT
>Santa Cruz, CA
>