Steinway Touchweight Problem

[Michael Jorgensen]

Hi Stan,
      I have a word of caution to add to Davids post.  Avoid the miserable
mistake I have made in the past- which is to file Steinway hammers using a
normal shape and greatly reducing the amount of felt over the molding
sufficient to create some tone out of the puffballs.  The end result is a
light bright tone with very short hammers, possibly overcentering, where
the shanks are way high above the rest cushions creating a host of
unlovable regulation/geometry nightmares.  The exaggerated pear shape that
Steinway uses is essential to keep the hammer tall enough and then one
must juice the devil out of them if there's no tone.  Since the hammers
and shanks are already new, it's certainly worth a try.  I personally
wonder if Steinway should have taller moldings within the hammers and
alittle longer on backcheck end which could always be shortened if need
be.  IHMO, a heavy action is not bad if the tone is there, and sometimes
is perceived as rich, deep, powerful, and easy to control instead of
tiring.
just a thought.
-Mike Jorgensen

David ilvedson wrote:

> Stan,
>
>  I bet you need
> to do some serious hammer filing on those Steinway puffball
> hammers.  What you will get is a nice hammer that you will
> likely have to juice some but the downweight will come down.
> Also reduction of the molding will make a big difference.  I
> would file first now that I've read through your post again.
>