Hammer Weight

[Charles Ball]

There has been some discussion lately in various forums, including PTG
articles, seminar classes, and elsewhere about the consequences of replacing
the hammers on American Steinways with imported hammers. Specifically, apart
from the tonal ramifications, the denser hammers from abroad have been
blamed for intractable touch weight problems.

Having experienced these problems myself and curious about the cause, I
recently took some measurements. I weighed some sample hammers from a set of
hammers for a Steinway B, manufactured in New York, and compared their
weight with corresponding hammers from a set of Renner Blue hammers sold for
the same model. The New York hammers are bored, tapered and shaped. The
German hammers are bored and tapered only.

Here are my findings:

                                    NY St.__         Renner PB

Hammer #15                          9.1 grams        10.4 grams
Hammer #44                          8.5 grams         9.0 grams
Hammer #61                          7.2 grams         7.9 grams
Hammer #75                          5.9 grams         6.0 grams

My understanding is that one gram at the hammer translates roughly to five
grams at the key. The difference appears to be greater in the lower
registers; but even there that is only 1.3 grams, slightly less if the
German set were shaped at the tail. So, perhaps 6 to 6.5 grams more weight
at the key.

This amount of additional weight is significant; but the actions I have
rebuilt with imported parts (which have had every advantage of excess
friction reduction) have sometimes weighed in at over 70 grams and more
throughout most of the keyboard. And these are from instruments built in the
past 25 years, not from the older Steinways presumably originally fitted
with light hammers.

I suspect that several factors are at work besides the weight of the
hammers; one being that even with the factory original hammers, which had
been much reduced by filing and wear, the action weighed off above
specifications. Another may have to do with the knuckle placement on the shank.

My point, if there is one, is that there is no panacea for the ills that we
may experience in the course of action rebuilding. We are truly fortunate to
have so many fine parts available today, so that we can usually find, at
least for Steinways, the ideal parts to meet our needs, both in terms of
touch and tone.

The best course I have found is to have a variety of parts on hand, and to
try them out for each action to determine which combination gives the best
results.

I would be interested to hear from others who have wrestled with these
challenges, and to hear what your experiences have taught.

Charles Ball