[CAUT] Ronsen-Wurzen hammers

[Richard Brekne]

Hi Eric

Its interesting to note that when the Wurzen felt hammer popped back up 
on the market a few years ago, they first appeared on this list and 
pianotech because of a Dutch fellow named Andre Oorebeck who'd picked up 
on them in Europe. Renner made (and still does) a very nice Wurzen 
hammer.  Back then the vast majority of the initial posts about hammers 
in general and Wurzen in particular was that existing hammers were by 
and large way too hard.  The search for an adequately soft hammer was on 
and Renner Wurzens were quite a bit less hard then many on the field.  
Ronsen came out with their hammer shortly after...  and then we started 
hearing about Bacon felt from a few sources... Ronsen in particular.  
Bacons by Ronsen have appeared to me from posts written as the softest 
of the bunch but I am lacking in direct experience with them myself.

Point is that now after a few years of delving into the world of soft 
dark tone.... everyone seems to be looking for a bit more power, 
brightness and higher dynamics again.   This seems to follow closely my 
own experience with voicing, my experience in dealing with pianists whom 
decide they want softer tone for a while, and just about every long term 
voicing story I hear from many techs around the world. I had a voicing 
teacher, very famous Japanese fellow who deserted Yamaha for Steinway in 
Japan, once tell me that the soft and beautiful tone that lacks a glassy 
edge at fortisimo and upwards is a phase many if not most less 
experienced concert voicers go through and that in the end if you dont 
have that edge... pianists will sooner or later ask someone provide it 
for them.

Now for the most part here on these two lists it appears the collective 
we on on that pendulum swing back towards more power and brightness. I 
think this is bound to refect that never ending impossible quest to 
create more dynamic range then is really possible on the piano... we 
like this one day... then the next day we like the other. Pianists and 
techs alike.

Interesting to be sure.

Cheers
RicB


    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