? Hi Jd ?Assuming that would rob you of missing some hammers with great potential. Often time & even with the weickert felt the tone may seem slightly under but this?is simply a need in most cases for some filing.? The felt is quite dense & strongly springy?in the weickert hammers & and I would caution all participants from using very much hardening solution of any kind any?where & certainly not strong solutions.? ? The fact is a hammer is a felt spring, & sometime that nice?strong spring has a radical gradation or uniqual springyness, meaning that in the case where the sound is initially a bit soft,?the hammer top/crown?has?too dis-similar a spring rate as the felt under it?couple mm or so down.? This is a perfect & appropriate time to apply a few drops of dilute solution to bring the top of the hammer spring/ness/density into closer compliance with the stiffness hammers primary density but still soft enough to give a nice PP. If it becomes an issue later this small amount of solution can be washed further into the hammer and away from the top minimizing any adverse affect. This only worl in my opinion for hammer treated with 3 to 8 drops of dilute solution. AMHIK? ???As a word picture imagine holding a hammer that tonally sounds as I described.?If one files enough felt away the denser part of the felt eventually shows up but this may be counter productive for bore distance & PPP dynamics that will diminish. ? I like the pearl idea but have not used it much. I need more experience with this. ? Dale ?You must be gettin a different brand or type of hammer than we get here ??? ?Yes, this is the way I do it when I need to use lacquer/dope. Since I rarely find this necessary except sometimes in the high treble, I apply the dope with a needle -- one single toning needle in a holder. I lay the hammer on its side, dip the needle into a container of lacquer and push it into the hammer at point round the tip of the moulding. This is done from both sides. This way there is absolutely no risk of putting in too much and having it wick up to the crown. If a second application is needed, more dope can be injected round the moulding and there is little risk of it going to far because the first application has already formed a barrier.? ? Brinsmead is the only maker I know from the old days who regularly lacquered hammers and I think it was probably done with a hair pencil. They used shellac, applied near the tip of the moulding.? ? I would never let any dope or lacquer near the crown of the hammer and am surprised to hear some people do.? ? I also differ from some Americans on the list in considering hammers that are soft from the box defective. The hammers I buy are always just a little on the bright side and can be toned to perfection using only radial needling for the basic work. This goes for hammers covered in a variety of felt including Wurzen's.? ? JD? ? ? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20090217/17c597c2/attachment.html>
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