Voicing an old piano

[cswearingen@daigger.com]

Hello List,

I have a client that has an old Raymond upright.  It's about 75 years old
but it still plays reasonably well.  I wanted to get some advice on voicing
the hammers in this piano.  I've already filed all the grooves out of the
hammers, shaped them and shined them up all purdy like with hi-grit
sandpaper.  This helped the tone quite a bit but there is still a long way
to go.  This is where I need your advice.  The bass sounds quite tubby and
as you move up into the tenor and high treble, the sound just gets brighter
and harsher.  The owner actually likes the brash sound in the treble so I
wanted to bring up the bass a bit so it doesn't sound so muddy and matches
up somewhat better to the tenor area.

So, what should I do here?  I'm thinking because the strings are 75 years
old, a large part of the problem is there.  Restringing is not an option
here but do you think I can juice up the hammers enough to make a
difference?  I have a solution of acetone/keytop and was just thinking of
using a few drops on the crown of the bass hammers.  I know that this
probably wouldn't be the way to treat new hammers but what about old worn
out hammers.  I'm thinking this may be all I need to bring 'em up a bit.

Any comments would be welcome.

Thanks,

Corte Swearingen
Chicago