oops! send apology;Hamburg Hammers -Reply

Horace Greeley hgreeley@leland.Stanford.EDU
Fri, 20 Jun 1997 21:46:10 -0700


Audrey,

Please check the post from Lloyd Meyer, Renner USA.

Giving credit where it is due, Lloyd avoided this thread until
some obvious misconceptions required attention.

Adding yet another cent or so, it has been (reasonably) well known that
Abel (and presumably others) have, at various times provided hammers 
for some well-known brands - like, for example, Hamburg.  When, specifically,
these "trials" happen is less well known, and probably that's just as well.

As a group, we get so wrapped up in infinte reductio ad absurdum that we
forget that, ultimately, whether a piano "sounds good" or not is dependent
on things which are largely well beyond our control; e.g., any  given person's
perception of what "good" piano sound is.

Our challenge, as one of my mentors used to put it remains the same today
as it has been for some time:  "Are you a technician, or a new parts
installer?"

We all tend to work with what we know the best.  What has provided the
highest (reasonable) quality consistent with the lowest (reasonable) cost.
Manufaturers are no different, except that they have, propotionately,
a much higher burden rate to keep their doors open.

My suggestion is that we each work to build our own technique to the level
that it is less a question of what specific hammer (or whatever) than of what
we want to do with it.

That's very, very glib; and, like all generalizations, is full of holes.
On the other hand,
once a piano is together, and whoever did the doing has done it as well as
they are
going to, it is up to some poor slob to make it into a musical instrument.

It's Friday, can you tell.

Have a peaceful and prosperous weekend.

Horace



At 11:42 PM 6/20/97 -0400, you wrote:
>Group --
>
>My apology, some confusion between my printer and my cursor got me pushing
>the send button way way way too early on that previous post.
>
>In a message dated 97-06-19 22:02:09 EDT, you write:
>
><<  Horace Greeley wrote:
> Yes, the real thing is from Renner.
> 
> However, it is not the same as other hammers made by Renner for other
> consumption.  >>
>
>Also, David Stanwood wrote that someone had noted 300 degrees on the Renner
>hammer press.  I wonder if different temperatures may pertain to differently
>named product lines within the same factory?  
>
>Audrey Karabinus,  Seattle  
>
>
Horace Greeley

Stanford University
email: hgreeley@leland.stanford.edu
voice mail: 415.725.9062
LiNCS help line: 415.725.4627


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