Dave Renaud said: "I have heard reports of improved tone with nice hard crystal hide glue, I wonder about that. That would make a cool experiment, replace a hammer that is cured hide glue with some Modern more plastic glue. Same hammer, same piano, same hammer fitting.....see if there is An audible change. Anyone tried this. Any solid evidence for the tonal superiority of hide glue Or is this wishful thinking." Dave, I have done this experiment. Yes, the type of glue does make a difference, imo. I re-glued a hammer, on an existing set glued with hide glue, but I used TiteBond. Since it was my piano, I had the opportunity to chech it periodically. At first there was a marked difference in tone. As the TiteBond got harder, it started to sound more like it's neighbors. (BTW, the piano was voiced before the experiment, to make sure that all were blended smooth.) Eventually, the TiteBond hammer fell into line with the others. Since I am not really a "Player", my pianos hardly ever get played unless it is someone else doing the playing.<G> Eventually, I decided to re-glue the hammer with hide glue. I'm here to tell you, it was not fun getting that hammer off and removing/cleaning the Titebond off! I did a similar experiment regarding Hex Shanks. There is a difference between Hex Shanks and Round shanks! Hence, I've started making hex shanks round before installing in pianos designed for said Round Shanks.<G> That's my take on it, Joe Joe Garrett, R.P.T. Captain of the Tool Police Squares R I
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