Ron: I have put S&S hammers on a variety of pianos because I like that type of hammer. I agree that there are often situations where the tenor needs to be brought down (depending on the piano), but rarely have I encountered a situation where the hammers don't need some hardening above the 5th octave. I have experimented with severe filing up there and even then they seem to need a little help. Thus, I have given up that kind of filing. I was just curious what Del's experience was. David Love ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ron Nossaman" <RNossaman@KSCABLE.com> To: <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: September 28, 2001 4:25 PM Subject: Re: Unlacquered S&S hammers: was Re: Tensioned hammers and"the staple" > >The original question was whether or not heavy filing off the crown was > >necessary on a S&S hammer in order to produce tone without lacquer. > > > >David Love > > And the answer involves another question. Produce tone on what? Del said > most all hammers were too hard for what he was doing, meaning with his > soundboard and scaling designs. On another type of soundboard and scaling > design approach, including Steinway's the S&S hammers will be too soft > without lacquer. I'm installing soundboards something similar to what Del > is doing, and I often have to needle these soft hammers down some through a > lot of the mid tenor because they're too bright. Sometimes a very light > application of lacquer is necessary in the last octave, but sometimes not. > The difference is in the soundboard design, not the hammers. With a > efficient soundboard and string scale, very little hammer voicing is necessary. > > Ron N
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