[CAUT] Wieckert felt?

[Fred Sturm]

Hi Mark,
	Wurzen is the name of a felt company, which sells felt under that  
name to Abel, Ronsen, Renner, etc. Weickert is a specific brand name  
of a specific felt being made by Wurzen, apparently under exclusive  
license to Renner (So Norbert Abel told me when I asked if Abel would  
use Weickert).
	Weickert was a premium felt of 75-125 years ago or so. In a way, this  
is like Samick reviving the Knabe name. Jack Brand (owner of Wurzen)  
said there was a good bit of documentation about Weickert felt  
retained by the factory. To give a little more background, Wurzen was  
expropriated by East Germany in the 40's, and quality went way down  
(so we are told). After the reunification of Germany, Brand and family  
reclaimed their own felt company, and then decided to buy Wurzen as  
well. This process of rebuilding the Wurzen name and quality level has  
been going on for maybe as long as 15 years. So some of this is PR,  
capitalizing on a name from the past. But I believe there is a lot of  
real, significant advance in felt-making going on as well. And, as I  
wrote earlier, I think the Abel Natural is a similar advance, and  
along the same lines.
	As far as I know, Weickert will only be available from Renner, and  
that hasn't happened yet. We were told there were a total of two sets  
of Weickert hammers in the US, one of them having just been installed  
on the Ravenscroft.
	So that's about all I know, and it is based on conversations with a  
couple people, together with what various people said in classes.  
Confusing stuff. If anyone has different information, I'd love to be  
corrected.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu
"I am only interested in music that is better than it can be played."  
Schnabel
On Jul 27, 2009, at 2:48 PM, Mark Cramer wrote:

> Sorry I’m a few days behind on this Fred. Thanks for your excellent  
> report on the convention. I’m a little confused with the following  
> comment though;
>
> “Weickert felt (a product of the Wurzen felt company licensed  
> exclusively to Renner)”
>
> It seems I’ve been discussing “Wurzen” and “Weickert”  
> interchangeably, and am now confused somewhat beyond the usual. Can  
> anyone help with the following?
>
> ·         The Renner USA Premium Blue hammer, is made exclusively  
> with WURZEN felt, but not necessarily with the Weickert product?
>
> (I can’t imagine any similarity between the ABEL natural felt and a  
> Renner Premium Blue, though both are significant products in their  
> own right)
>
> ·         How does Renner (Europe) market/label hammers made with  
> the Weickert felt?
>
> ·         Don’t Ronsen and Pacific Piano Supply make hammers with  
> the Weickert felt, or are these just generic WURZEN felt?
>
> ·         Are the Ronsen Wurzens and Pacific Supply hammers similar,  
> the same (made by Ray for Pacific, etc.) or entirely different ?
>
> Thanks all,
>
> Mark Cramer,
> Brandon University





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