Keith
I just woke up thinking...I forget to call u back. Good work on the Yamaha. This is a similar response we have received from so many clients weary of the sound of shattering glass. when you give them sustain and true tone color it transforms their music/ears...... And all that with out 6 hours of needling.
In general I find Yam hammers to be really some of the heaviest in the industry in notes 1 thru not 35 or so and then they are fairly usual.. And yes they have really even and consistent action ratios which helps a lot.
Keith....I agree with your choice of hammer weights. A G- 3 or any 6 ft piano does not need hammers that heavy and that type of weight simply sabotages a good action ratio.
Trix and I rebuilt a Yam. C-7 on a cruise ship from Thursday to Monday. Strings, new shanks keybushings ,reg. and Weickert felt hammers. (Ronsen of course) I'm exhausted. Interesting process. The ship was in dry dock and it was a time crunch job. Some cruise.
That said I found the same heavy hammer issues in the C-7 with the bass hammer at note 4 starting at 10.7 grams. Yikes. By note 40 its down to a manageable 8 grams. I reduced it to abot 10.3 grams on note one to 8.7 at note 28.
The short story was the piano wasn't all that good, but new strings and the Weickert felt made it into a musical instrument again. This piano is used 6 hrs a day. Its only 12 years old but it was trashed. The Yamaha hammers were worn out and under serviced and it had broken countless treble strings and some bass.
My usual voicing protocol is to stiffen the staple area with any stiff lac. or plastic solution. This DOES NOT creep above 9 or 3. This is a very old school technique which treats this area as the foundation of the hammer and stiffening it gives resistance when the top of the hammers pushes off the string. In this piano I used a 10 to one lac acetone in the bass....Soaking the entire hammer for the monochord section and bi-chords. I needed this piano to be up and running at full speed ASAP and its in a very dead environment so I put 4 to 6 drops of really thin plastic and acetone on the strike point for play-in solution. It only penetrates about 1 mm. This made a nice round but focused sound with enough punch to satisfy the pianist.....tomorrow. In the tenor up to b-3 I added some 10 to one over the top and let it soak in pretty good. added 3 to 4 drops of thin plastic.
The area from f-5 to the top was also soaked with 10 to 1 and then the same few drops of really thin plastic. Now understand I don't like plastic in hammers so this few drops only aids play-in and it has served its purpose with out detriment to the life span or voicing of the hammer. And the 10 to 1 solution is so weak that its presence in subsequent needling/voicing would be undetectable. However it give more immediate projection and a bit more visceral feel to the pianists who is accustomed/used to some slap and trash in his tone until the Weickert sound retrains them. :) Its really quite a slick procedure. I know that with a more flexible hammer felt that vocing stability will be greatly enhanced and voicing issues will not be huge problem and will not be difficult to keep under control
The piano turned from a sows ear to a silk purse and we were satisfied. Trix does the nicest stringing that can be had and it is always a pleasure to tune the ones she strings.
Well done grasshopper
Dale S. Erwin
www.Erwinspiano.com
Custom restoration
Ronsen Piano hammers
Join the Weickert felt Revolution
209-577-8397
209-985-0990
-----Original Message-----
From: Keith Roberts <keithspiano at gmail.com>
To: College and University Technicians <caut at ptg.org>
Sent: Wed, Dec 22, 2010 10:26 pm
Subject: [CAUT] Hammer evaluation, Weickert felt
Well the hammer job was delivered. Thought you guys might like a report on these hammers. This was the new Weickert felt from Ronsen hammer. I put them on a barely been played 25 year old Yamaha G3. I told my mentor, Dale Erwin, the piano make and model and he handed me these. The client, an acomplished classical musician, had said he thought the piano played heavy in the bass and low tenor. He has owned it two years.
Of course the factory run of hammers doesn't match the prescribed leading patterns. The factory run went from a 9.8 gram hammer down to a 9 gr by note 12 and back to a 9,5 hammmer just before the strut break. No wonder it played heavy through that section. So I graduated the weight to sort of a curve. The hammer has to look right too, not just weigh right. This adjustment is one of the things I love about a Yamaha. Because the action ration is so consistant, everything falls into place.
Basically then two things were done that changed the sound. The weight reduction added control. I started with a 9.8 gr hammer and was at 8.5 gr/ note 26/ strut break. Then 8 gr by note 40 tapering down to a 5 gram hammer at 88.
I put these on with no lacquer or needling. This was one of my better jobs. I had to spend 15 minutes aligning hammers to strings. They were even checking right. None were blocking.
First, he was really happy with the feel. Then overjoyed.
How shall I descibe the sound......... Glorious. Simply Glorious. Tonal envelope was beautiful. Very interesting and pleasant. Full and rich like an orchestra. Power to spare. Instant response to ppp. I could have put a few drops of lacquer to give it that pop and sizzle from the attack of the harder head but WHY? It would be a pleasure to play these in. The tonal clarity must come from the rebound. This hammer is an amazing spring. If it had to go on stage right away, a little lacquer for sure
The owner has already emailed me and told me how much he truely LOVES his piano now. Within the first hour before I even got home, he sent it. Is that a record?
Thank you, Dale S. Erwin, for all the mistakes you made so I don't have to... I mean, your wisdom.. haha
Keith
1 Attached Images
Dale S. Erwin
www.Erwinspiano.com
Custom restoration
Ronsen Piano hammers
Join the Weickert felt Revolution
209-577-8397
209-985-0990
-----Original Message-----
From: Keith Roberts <keithspiano at gmail.com>
To: College and University Technicians <caut at ptg.org>
Sent: Wed, Dec 22, 2010 10:26 pm
Subject: [CAUT] Hammer evaluation, Weickert felt
Well the hammer job was delivered. Thought you guys might like a report on these hammers. This was the new Weickert felt from Ronsen hammer. I put them on a barely been played 25 year old Yamaha G3. I told my mentor, Dale Erwin, the piano make and model and he handed me these. The client, an acomplished classical musician, had said he thought the piano played heavy in the bass and low tenor. He has owned it two years.
Of course the factory run of hammers doesn't match the prescribed leading patterns. The factory run went from a 9.8 gram hammer down to a 9 gr by note 12 and back to a 9,5 hammmer just before the strut break. No wonder it played heavy through that section. So I graduated the weight to sort of a curve. The hammer has to look right too, not just weigh right. This adjustment is one of the things I love about a Yamaha. Because the action ration is so consistant, everything falls into place.
Basically then two things were done that changed the sound. The weight reduction added control. I started with a 9.8 gr hammer and was at 8.5 gr/ note 26/ strut break. Then 8 gr by note 40 tapering down to a 5 gram hammer at 88.
I put these on with no lacquer or needling. This was one of my better jobs. I had to spend 15 minutes aligning hammers to strings. They were even checking right. None were blocking.
First, he was really happy with the feel. Then overjoyed.
How shall I descibe the sound......... Glorious. Simply Glorious. Tonal envelope was beautiful. Very interesting and pleasant. Full and rich like an orchestra. Power to spare. Instant response to ppp. I could have put a few drops of lacquer to give it that pop and sizzle from the attack of the harder head but WHY? It would be a pleasure to play these in. The tonal clarity must come from the rebound. This hammer is an amazing spring. If it had to go on stage right away, a little lacquer for sure
The owner has already emailed me and told me how much he truely LOVES his piano now. Within the first hour before I even got home, he sent it. Is that a record?
Thank you, Dale S. Erwin, for all the mistakes you made so I don't have to... I mean, your wisdom.. haha
Keith
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