Steam treating hard hammers

[David Andersen]

Ed---right spot-on, as usual. We bow to your crafts, both language  
and piano.
On Jun 12, 2007, at 9:34 AM, A440A at aol.com wrote:

> Wayne writes:
> <<
> I just treated the strike point with steam, maybe I should try the  
> shoulders
> also. Wayne >>
>
> Greetings,
>     Maybe you should start with the shoulders.  Steam releases  
> fibers, which
> if overdone on the crown will often ruin the hammer.  If you turn the
> shoulders into marshmallows,  you can often get a needle into the  
> compression zone
> under the strike point and actually create some resilience.
>     Steaming the strike point can leave you with a layers of  
> totally dead
> felt over a rock.  I have had good luck with steaming the shoulders  
> first, then
> seeing what the needles found deeper in the hammer.  If there is no  
> resilience
> created by relaxing some of the compression, there will be very  
> poor tone and
> a very short time before the hammers sounds harsh, again.
> Regards,
>