Hammers

[Newton Hunt]

Wow!

I have no experience with pianos in the tropics except in
Cuba and there are so many other problems there the humidity
aspect is difficult to assess.  I did see a piano with
separating felt, no, two pianos, but that was a minor
problem compared to the others, termites, corrosion and lack
of maintenance.

I think I will stay in a dry climate.
-- 
		Newton Hunt
		Highland Park, NJ
		mailto:nhunt@jagat.com


Tony Caught wrote:
> 
> Hi Newton,
> 
> I will have to buy a scanner so that I can send you some photo's of what
> happens in the tropics.
> 
> So for I have replaced the hammers on no less than 8 Yamaha pianos, under
> warranty (pianos less than ten year old) because the hammer felts have
> lifted.  These pianos models are C108, LU 110 and LU201. Yamaha agrees that
> if the hammers are subject to this happening in areas of extreme humidity
> and replaces them without any hassles. They also stopped importing these not
> tropical pianos into Australia because of this and other related humidity
> problems.
> 
> I don't know what type of glue they use but in this day of cost cutting I
> would not be surprised if this glue also failed. Be it water penetration
> into the glue or the extra tension put on by swollen felts or a combination
> of both.
> 
> to me it seems that for every cycle a piano goes through in season changes
> the piano (wood and felt) retains more moisture every year. An example is
> that a new piano will have 2 tight centres in the first year, 8 in the
> second and then 30 in the third. If they don't buy a Dampp-Chaser be this
> time I tell them that I will have to recentre the entire piano.
> 
> Regards
> 
> Tony Caught ICPTG
> Australia
> caute@optusnet.com.au
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Newton Hunt <nhunt@jagat.com>
> To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Sent: Friday, December 29, 2000 11:13 PM
> Subject: Re: Hammers
> 
> > Humidity exasperates the situation but generally it is glue
> > failure and mostly on inferior hammers but not always.
> > Sometimes mistreated felt itself can fail if over heated in
> > the cauls.  Modern glues penetrate the wood and the felt and
> > almost never fail.
> > --
> > Newton Hunt
> > Highland Park, NJ
> > mailto:nhunt@jagat.com