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

[Ed Sutton]

Mark-

It's worth a try.
If I remember right, the cost is about the same as the cost of a new set of
hammers and shanks.
Schaff sells partial sets (15, 30, 60) of "American made" hammers,
pre-bored to your specs. 

Ed Sutton



> [Original Message]
> From: Mark Cramer <Cramer@BrandonU.ca>
> To: <ed440@mindspring.com>; College and University Technicians
<caut@ptg.org>
> Date: 7/19/2004 12:46:35 PM
> Subject: hammer re-felting, and what's bugging me!
>
> 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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