[CAUT] Ronsen-Wurzen hammers

[Wolfley, Eric (wolfleel)]

Mitch,

I treat them pretty much the same as I would a set of Steinway
hammers... mostly shallow needling on the crown. I experiment with deep
needling or squeezing the shoulders to round out the tone and give it
what I call "presence". The added resilience there seems to add richness
to the tone and a little more zing. It's like it widens the spectrum of
the harmonics. None of this happens however if the core isn't hard
enough.

The weight of these hammers has a large influence on the tone. My
experience with the 16lb Ronsens is that they are extremely heavy which
requires a lot more core-hardening and low action ratios. The 14lb
hammers can also be rather heavy I have found.



Eric Wolfley, RPT
Director of Piano Services
College-Conservatory of Music
University of Cincinnati

-----Original Message-----
From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of
Mitch Staples
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 3:06 PM
To: College and University Technicians
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Ronsen-Wurzen hammers

Eric,

When you needle these hammers do you deep needle at the strike point, on
the
shoulders, or just sugarcoat them, (or some combination)?  I'm wondering
if
you treat all lacquered hammers like Steinway hammers.

Mitch Staples
Ohio State University

-----Original Message-----
From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org]On Behalf Of
Wolfley, Eric (wolfleel)
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 1:36 PM
To: College and University Technicians
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Ronsen-Wurzen hammers


I've put a number of sets of Ronsen Wurtzen hammers on and I like them
for our practice rooms but I've had an experience similar to Alan's.
Without lacquer they seem to be missing something at all volumes, even
for a practice room. At the minimum I'll soak them from the mid-tenor on
up and often soak the whole set. You have to needle them back down after
doing this of course but they then have a good strong core for a wider
dynamic range. They sound nice after doing this plus I've found that if
hammers are voiced too soft the kids just pound harder to get tone out
of the piano. From my experience I can't imagine using these hammers
"straight out of the box". That being said, I still like them a lot
though I wouldn't put them on a performance piano.

Eric

Eric Wolfley, RPT
Director of Piano Services
College-Conservatory of Music
University of Cincinnati