> I've always wondered why S & S can't just make harder hammers to start
>with.
Because that isn't the way S&S did it in the past. Part of the Steinway
sound is in the shape and density of the hammers and how they react to the
strings and experience has shown that hardening a low-shouldered soft hammer
with lacquer creates the kind of sound Steinway is famous for. Other hammers
can also make one sound great and perhaps even fantastic, but it isn't
"authentic" if I may use that phrase.
> Have you every tried to voice a hammer that had been heavily juiced
>with lacquer? It's like digging a hole in concrete and sometimes does just
>about as much good.
If they've been too aggressively treated that is the fault of a technician,
not the process itself. We could argue all day about the relative merits of
hard and soft-pressed hammers, but the point is that's they way S&S have
been doing it (successfully) for 140 or so years, not whether it's right or
wrong.
Besides... how many times do you see moth-eaten S&S hammers? B-})
John
John Musselwhite, RPT Calgary, Alberta Canada
musselj@cadvision.com sysop@67.cambo.cuug.ab.ca
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC