Anyone care to create the story behind this picture?
 
    These are hammers taken from a Kawai KG-2C about 15 years old. Piano belongs to a teacher who has not liked the tone of the piano for some time. Technicians over the years have been needling the hammers to attempt to reduce the brightness with very poor success according to the client, a music teacher. My efforts at needling produced no further reduction in brightness( I really dislike tenderizing the poor things and was not very aggressive about the needling at this point), but the customers wanted something done. Hammers still looked like hammers. I suggested steaming the hammers.
    That effort produced quite a dramatic change, albeit a little too much.(duration time in steam = 1/2 second each) Two weeks after the steaming the tone got duller, very dull, and finally almost dead, especially in octaves four and five. Upon pulling the action I observed what you now see...at the worst 1/4" cut like indentations. I surmise that the felt simply came apart along the lines of the needling previously done. Nothing left to do except replace hammers.
    I now approach any potential "steam job" with a great deal of trepidation. My investigation has turned up at least one manufacturer's caution: Don't steam Yamaha hammers. They will not stand behind any warranty work regarding hammers if steaming has taken place on them. Korean hammers un -touched by needling probably will yield good results with steam, but beware any aggressive needling that may have previously taken place!