Greetings, << > 3) What kind of bottle do you use? I use an eye dropper. > How long must it dry? The lacquer needs a day to show most of what you have done. > Do you ever put it on the strike point? Oh yes! Ever heard a country studio's piano? they like it just short of sounding like glass. > What ratio? 4:1? 5:1? The ratio determines how the stuff penetrates. a glob of straight lacquer on the shoulder will pretty much just sit there. A dropper of straight thinner will just about penetrate to the core, so there is a qualitive difference between four drops of 4:1 vs eight drops of 8:1. The thinner mix will harden more of the hammer to a lesser degree, the thicker will harden it a lot but closer to the surface. In my work, a real soft hammer that has to project a lot will get a large dose of dilute mix first, and then after a day or so I can decide if it needs it again, or whether a stronger strength on the shoulders will add the needed support. There has got to be some non-linear resilence between the hammer's contact point and the underfelt/core. How this resistance is managed depends not only on how much lacquer there is, but where! My sources tell me that voicers in the Steinway factory, (which uses some of the softest hammer felt I have seen) just about drench the hammers to start with, then the next day beginning the real voicing, which includes needling down hammers that got too much hardener or adding more if needed. I believe that their progression is similar to Gina's, but others will probably have additional details. (I have been there twice, and saw slightly different approaches each time) Regards, Ed Foote RPT
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