Hartman: >1. There is no proof that heavier hammers have a better or louder tone. A vast majority of concert grands are Steinways and use strike weights that are in the full zone. NY Steinway tend to be in the medium zone in the bass. > Hammer voicing and soundboard condition are just as much, if not more of a >factor in producing a powerful tone than increasing the hammer weight by >1,2 or 3 grams. Their all important... Increasing by 1,2, or 3 grams from what? >2. The increased dip used in your system is likely to improve the pianist's >ability to produce a powerful tone; not the increased hammer weight or the >change in leverage. Increasing key dip is the result of increasing leverage. If you suggest increasing leverage (lower strike ratios) and maintaining lighter hammers, then I have to say I disagree. My data clearly shows that this is the worst possible scenario as far as tonal projection is concerned. >3. It is much easier to make the hammer's weight fit the leverage of the >action than to alter the action to work with a heavier than average hammer. True. Remember how hard it was stringing your first piano? >It is very inefficient to alter the action by changing the capstans and altering the wippens to fit an arbitrary hammer weight. What do you mean by "inefficient"? My optimum strike weights and ratios are not arbitrary. I like to emulate the Hamburg Steinway in strike weight and strike ratio. Here below are strike weight/ratio data from 4 hamburg D's Stanwood Note StrikeWt Late model Hamburg Steinway D's 1 14.1 13.4 12.3 12.9 2 13.8 13.4 12.3 12.9 3 14.0 13.3 12.3 13.0 4 13.8 13.2 12.7 12.9 5 13.7 13.2 12.6 12.7 6 13.9 12.8 12.5 12.8 7 14.1 13.0 12.6 12.7 8 14.0 12.8 12.2 12.5 9 14.0 13.2 11.8 12.5 10 13.9 12.5 11.9 12.7 11 14.0 13.0 11.8 12.6 12 13.8 12.6 11.6 12.5 13 14.0 12.5 11.3 12.7 14 13.9 12.5 11.4 12.5 15 14.1 12.7 11.5 12.3 16 14.1 12.7 11.5 12.3 17 14.0 12.7 11.4 12.0 18 13.9 12.5 11.2 11.7 19 13.9 12.4 11.0 11.8 20 13.5 12.2 11.1 11.3 21 12.7 11.8 10.6 10.8 22 12.6 11.7 10.4 10.2 23 12.5 11.4 10.5 10.9 24 12.5 11.4 10.4 10.9 25 12.2 11.5 10.4 10.6 26 11.9 10.9 10.2 11.0 27 11.7 11.1 10.1 10.7 28 11.6 11.2 10.5 10.8 29 12.0 11.1 10.1 10.8 30 11.9 11.0 10.2 10.8 31 11.9 11.0 10.2 11.0 32 11.7 11.0 10.1 10.6 33 11.8 11.0 10.0 11.0 34 11.8 10.5 10.2 10.9 35 11.4 11.0 10.2 10.8 36 11.4 11.4 10.2 10.5 37 11.3 10.9 10.0 10.4 38 11.0 10.9 10.0 10.4 39 11.5 11.1 10.2 10.5 40 11.9 11.1 9.8 10.2 41 11.8 10.8 9.4 10.6 42 11.2 10.8 9.5 10.3 43 11.1 11.0 9.7 10.4 44 11.6 10.9 9.7 10.4 45 11.3 11.1 9.6 10.0 46 11.5 10.7 9.4 10.3 47 11.1 10.6 9.3 10.3 48 11.0 10.5 9.2 10.2 49 10.8 10.3 9.5 10.0 50 10.6 10.3 9.4 10.0 51 10.6 10.4 9.7 9.8 52 10.6 10.4 9.7 9.6 53 10.5 9.9 9.6 9.7 54 10.4 9.7 9.3 9.8 55 10.3 10.2 9.7 9.6 56 10.4 10.1 9.5 9.7 57 10.4 9.8 9.5 9.6 58 10.4 10.0 9.2 9.5 59 10.3 9.7 9.0 9.5 60 9.9 9.6 9.0 9.6 61 9.6 9.1 8.7 9.3 62 9.6 9.2 8.6 9.4 63 9.6 9.2 8.6 9.5 64 9.5 9.1 8.7 9.2 65 9.2 9.0 8.6 9.5 66 9.0 9.2 8.4 9.3 67 9.2 8.9 8.5 9.3 68 9.1 8.8 8.4 9.0 69 8.8 8.4 8.1 8.6 70 9.0 8.5 8.1 8.5 71 8.8 8.0 7.6 8.6 72 8.6 8.3 7.6 8.2 73 8.5 8.2 7.4 8.4 74 8.4 8.0 7.5 8.1 75 8.4 8.1 7.4 7.8 76 8.3 8.0 7.2 8.0 77 8.2 7.8 7.3 7.9 78 8.4 7.6 7.4 7.9 79 8.0 7.6 7.2 7.7 80 7.7 7.5 7.2 7.7 81 7.6 7.3 6.9 7.6 82 7.7 7.2 7.2 7.6 83 7.8 7.1 7.3 7.5 84 7.5 6.8 6.5 7.1 85 7.5 6.8 6.3 7.3 86 7.1 6.6 6.2 7.0 87 7.1 6.6 6.5 6.7 88 6.8 6.6 6.1 6.8 Note Strike Ratio, Late model Hamburg Steinway D's 1 5.8 5.6 5.7 5.8 2 5.7 5.8 5.5 5.6 3 5.5 5.7 5.7 5.3 4 5.5 5.7 5.5 5.7 5 5.6 5.6 5.5 5.6 6 5.7 5.7 5.5 5.5 7 5.6 5.6 5.5 5.8 8 5.6 5.7 5.5 5.6 9 5.6 5.8 5.4 5.5 10 5.5 5.6 5.4 5.5 11 5.5 5.6 5.5 5.6 12 5.4 5.5 5.3 5.7 13 5.4 5.7 5.7 5.6 14 5.5 5.5 5.4 5.8 15 5.5 5.5 5.5 5.6 16 5.6 5.5 5.4 5.6 17 5.7 5.4 5.6 5.6 18 5.6 5.5 5.4 5.5 19 5.7 5.5 5.3 5.7 20 5.6 5.5 5.3 5.8 21 5.3 5.3 5.4 5.6 22 5.4 5.6 5.5 5.5 23 5.6 5.3 5.3 5.6 24 5.3 5.6 5.4 5.5 25 5.5 5.6 5.3 5.4 26 5.6 5.6 5.4 5.3 27 5.5 5.7 5.4 5.4 28 5.5 5.7 5.6 5.4 29 5.7 5.5 5.2 5.4 30 5.5 5.6 5.4 5.5 31 5.4 5.7 5.4 5.4 32 5.6 5.5 5.5 5.5 33 5.4 5.5 5.4 5.5 34 5.5 5.6 5.5 5.5 35 5.4 5.4 5.5 5.6 36 5.2 5.5 5.5 5.5 37 5.5 5.5 5.5 5.4 38 5.4 5.5 5.5 5.5 39 5.4 5.5 5.4 5.5 40 5.5 5.4 5.3 5.3 41 5.6 5.4 5.4 5.6 42 5.4 5.5 5.3 5.5 43 5.4 5.2 5.4 5.5 44 5.4 5.6 5.2 5.7 45 5.5 5.5 5.4 5.8 46 5.4 5.6 5.4 5.5 47 5.4 5.7 5.3 5.8 48 5.5 5.7 5.3 5.5 49 5.7 5.6 5.4 5.5 50 5.7 5.8 5.3 5.5 51 5.3 5.5 5.3 5.6 52 M 5.6 5.3 5.8 53 5.4 5.6 5.3 5.8 54 5.5 5.4 5.4 5.6 55 5.6 5.4 5.4 5.5 56 5.7 5.6 5.4 5.4 57 5.7 5.6 5.3 5.6 58 5.3 5.6 5.5 5.4 59 5.6 5.4 5.4 5.4 60 5.4 5.3 5.4 5.3 61 5.4 5.5 5.4 5.5 62 5.4 5.2 5.4 5.5 63 5.5 5.5 5.5 5.5 64 5.6 5.4 5.4 5.3 65 5.4 5.6 5.3 5.5 66 5.4 5.8 5.4 5.4 67 5.3 5.4 5.4 5.5 68 5.5 5.5 5.4 5.5 69 5.4 5.5 5.4 5.6 70 5.5 5.5 5.4 5.4 71 5.4 5.5 5.3 5.5 72 5.4 5.3 5.4 5.4 73 5.5 5.4 5.4 5.7 74 5.5 5.5 5.5 5.5 75 5.6 5.9 5.5 5.4 76 5.4 5.6 5.4 5.5 77 5.5 5.4 5.4 5.3 78 5.5 5.3 5.4 5.3 79 5.4 5.8 5.4 5.5 80 5.5 5.3 5.5 5.6 81 5.7 5.7 5.4 5.5 82 5.5 5.5 5.5 5.4 83 5.7 5.5 5.5 5.4 84 5.7 5.8 5.4 5.7 85 5.8 5.8 5.5 5.7 86 5.6 5.5 5.7 5.5 87 5.4 5.4 5.6 5.6 88 5.7 5.7 5.5 5.6
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