Wurzen felt

[David C. Stanwood]

Love the conversation about felt and voicing!

I have to share this quote from a grand master:

"The art of hammer making has ever been to obtain a solid,  firm
foundation, graduating in softness and elasticity toward the top surface,
which latter has to be silky and elastic in order to produce a mild, soft
tone for pianissimo playing, but with sufficient resistance back of  it to
permit the hard blow of fortissimo playing."   Alfred Dolge - Pianos and
their Makers  1911

For me hammer felt voicing is all about a balance between hammer weight,
density gradient, and resiliency.

Lacquer builds density at the expense of resiliency.  A common problem with
lacquer is that flooding the whole hammer hardens the surface fibers and
makes for unpleasent pianissimo tone...  a good lacquer technique is to
juice the shoulder with lacquer and immediately juice the crown with
solvent or thin lacquer.   The thinner solution draws the harder lacquer
out of the shoulder thinning it as it gets closer to the crown creating a
density gradient while at the same time acting as a resist, keeping the
harder lacquer out of the crown surface.  

David Stanwood