hammer re-felting, and what's bugging me!

[Mark Cramer]

Thanks for the feedback Ed.

I would like to send both my Bluthner, and a set from a Yamaha C-7 for
re-felting.

I intend to a order the soft felt for both, even though the C-7 is in a
hall. (comment?)

If you don't mind me thinking aloud for a moment, this is what's currently
rattling around between my ears:

Everytime I (we) replace a set of hammer assemblies (H,S & F's) we go
through painstaking work to measure, sort and select, then weigh, and trim,
and install, and align, and, and, and...

Then, when these components are worn, even slightly, (depending on the
piano) we throw them all away and start all over again!!

What really bugs me isn't the few hundred bucks worth of parts, but
thousands of dollars worth of labor and thought and craft that goes into the
trash along with those parts!

I like the idea of Yamaha's pre-hung assemblies, as their pianos by and
large provide the precision to get away with this, I just don't like their
hammers.  (sorry)

So a few weeks ago while working in Banff with Denis, we were discussing how
we often replace a whole set of (newish) concert-hammers, when really it's
only octaves 5 & 6 that are getting a bit tired.

And how nice it would be if we could just order "partial sets," ....

and that's when our two lines of thought converged.

So, I am currently pondering the idea of "recycling" whole
hammer-assemblies.

If for instance a set on an older "O" comes due for replacement, and the
dimensions/weight curve worked well, why not send the set for refelting,
knuckles, bushing and center-pins?

(Abel will supply new flanges, if the originals have bee over-pinned)

When they come back, (in theory anyhow); "VOILA!"  pre-hung, short-bore
hammers that match the string height, and have a weight-curve where
hammer-felt is the only variable."

In the case of the C-7, the scenario (hopefully) would be akin to "yes, I
would like to try an order of your C-7 pre-hungs, but with German felt, sil
vous plais."

For a concert piano, this could be ideal, providing the quality of work
matches the quality of their parts.

Meanwhile, if no-one talks me out of this, I hope to report some results
back to you in fall.

Finally, on the subject of not throwing out one's precious work, thanks for
mentioning the scale stick Ed!

best regards,
Mark Cramer,
Brandon University





-----Original Message-----
From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org]On Behalf Of Ed
Sutton
Sent: Saturday, July 17, 2004 12:40 PM
To: College and University Technicians; CAUT
Subject: RE: Abel hammer re-felting services


Mark-

	I had a set of 1870's Boesendorfer Viennese action hammers recovered by
Abel via Wally Brooks.  You can choose soft, medium or hard pressed
hammers.  I chose medium.  The results were very pleasing in this living
room piano.
	I took measurements and made an allignment stick before sending off the
hammers, just in case.  Glad I did, because they were unable to refelt the
top 15 or so hammers, and sent new hammers for those (pre-bored), which I
had to hang.  The back up info made this easy to do.
	Is this for your Bluethner?

Ed Sutton


> [Original Message]
> From: Mark Cramer <Cramer@BrandonU.ca>
> To: CAUT <caut@ptg.org>
> Date: 7/5/2004 9:44:56 PM
> Subject: Abel hammer re-felting services
>
> Can anyone share comments/results from Abel's hammer re-felting services?
>
> thanks,
> Mark Cramer,
> Brandon University
> _______________________________________________
> caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives



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