[CAUT] Hammer wear

[Wolfley, Eric (wolfleel)]

David,

 

Did you put Wurtzens on your Steinways?

 

Our Steinway hammers wear fast here as well but it is because they are
played significantly more hours than any others. We have 5 Steinway L's
in our locked piano major rooms and those rooms are never vacant. Unless
you monitor the hours the pianos are being played I don't think it is a
fair comparison. My experience with the NY Steinway hammers is that they
are the most durable and for that reason worth the extra expense when
compared to Ronsens and others. Abels and the regular Ronsens are eaten
up very quickly in comparison. I have just recently begun putting Ronsen
Wurtzen on some Baldwins and am happy with the tone but the verdict is
still out on durability.

 

 

Eric Wolfley, RPT 
Head Piano Technician 
Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music 
University of Cincinnati 

________________________________

From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of
Porritt, David
Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2006 9:16 AM
To: College and University Technicians
Subject: [CAUT] Hammer wear

 

Wim mentioned the other day the difference in hammer wear and wondered
if different pianists playing technique had anything to do with it.  

 

I tried to take pictures to post, but the camera I have here doesn't
have good enough macro functions to really show good detail.  We have 2
M's bought in 2004 that are in practice rooms.  I filed the hammers in
the summer of 2005 because the grooves were deep from a year of hard
use.  Also in the summer of 2005 I hung 5 sets of Ronsen Wurzen hammers
on practice room pianos.  All of these get similar use.  The Wurzen
hammers look like the hammers were installed last week and the NY
Steinway hammers are again fairly seriously grooved.  I can only
attribute that to felt density.  While they are not hard pressed, the
raw felt is just denser than other hammers.  

 

I've become a real believer!

 

dp 

 

__________________________

David M. Porritt, RPT

Meadows School of the Arts

Southern Methodist University

Dallas, TX 75275

dporritt at smu.edu <mailto:dporritt at smu.edu> 

 

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