Lacquer where you applied it, is only going to gain volume, as you experienced. I use Bacons exclusively. Depending on the belly, I will need to both needle the shoulders, from about 9:30 up the the near crown, then put a very small amount of dope, using the back of a small acid brush just touching the ends of the string marks. If that doesn't do it, one drop of medium diluted dope on each string mark.
I use B72 and ehtyl alcohol for my stiffening agents now, so I can't speak to the concentrations of lacquer. With b72 I use my medium dilution mix mostly. I will look up the dilutions if you are interested in the B72 mix.
One of the reasons I like Bacons, is that the hammer contains good resilience distrubuted pretty appropriately throughout the entire hammer. The job is to bring it up, and the amount of dope required is really quite small. But, even though is seems that Bacons should not need shoulder needling, the needling often will seriously improve the tone all on its own.
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Jim Ialeggio
grandpianosolutions.com
Shirley, MA
978 425-9026
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Original Message:
Sent: 11-11-2020 17:04
From: Denis Kelly
Subject: Hammer Tone
I have had an M&H Model A in the shop for rebuilding as a spec piano. After the rebuild and restringing,new Ronsen Bacon felt hammers felt were hung and the action regulated. While I have had good results in the past with the Bacon felt on two vintage Baldwin grands of similar size, the results with the M&H were extremely disappointing. The tone consists of a strong fundamental, and nothing else. Sanding and polishing did little. Surprised by the outcome, I reinstalled a few of the old hammers and the tone was much fuller with higher partials in evidence. With the new Ronsens, the sound is muffled. If I hadn't used them successfully before I might be tempted to blame the softness of the felt.
I tried applying a 1/5 lacquer/acetone solution to the sides of the hammers between the strike point and molding, but other than a slight increase in volume, the tone was unimproved. The lack of improvement made me hesitant to apply more lacquer. My next thought was to iron the hammers, but after having lacquered them, I am concerned about the possibility of scorching or burning the felt.
I have a curved hammer iron connected to an 80 watt soldering iron, which I have previously used before but before I employ them, I thought I would query the PTG community.
While I hope to salvage these Ronsen hammers, I would be interested in hearing what other hammers might work for these older Model A's.
Thanks.
Denis Kelly