[CAUT] Ronsen-Wurzen hammers

[Ron Nossaman]

> One thing that disturbs me about these hammers, at least on the pianos I
> have put them on, is that they never give me the "clang" that I want at a
> fff dynamic level. They are nicely made, don't require much prep, and give a
> warm, dark tone quality, but in my experience with a fff blow all you get is
> more volume without as much change in the partial mix as I want. I have
> ended up juicing every set. If I could get a set of S&S hammers that were
> completely unaltered at the factory (long uncoved, unarced tails), I would
> use Steinway hammers. I happen to like the sound I can get using lacquer, so
> I will  go back to using Ronsen Bacon hammers with lacquer. Having said this
> though, so as not to be misunderstood, I do not like a bright piano sound
> that you get from hard hammers. The only time I want clang is at the highest
> dynamic levels, so the pianist has to work to get it, as opposed to those
> pianos that are pingy from the getgo at a pp level.
> 
> FWIW.
> 
> Alan

I had an interesting comparison opportunity a couple of years 
ago. I put two sets of Wurzen felt Ronsens in two different 
S&S Ds. one was a redesigned and remanufactured RC&S board, 
and the other was stock. The redesigned RC&S piano required 
extensive voicing down, and still left the shop way too "hot" 
by my estimation. The stock piano had a sweat sock on a stick 
sound about it, and needed hardener to raise some semblance of 
tone. So either the hardness of these hammers is wildly 
unpredictable set by set, or the tone production is at least 
as dependent on the soundboard efficiency as on the hammer 
set. Door number two, please.

Ron N