Wurzen felt

[David C. Stanwood]

>David,

>snip>The other big advantage to using lacquer is that the hammers remains 
>light weight. With modern hammers a heavy felt density is used to 
>increase the hammer stiffness. This means there is always a weight 
>penalty if you want a stiffer hammer.  It is an endless circle: as 
>technicians demand brighter tone the hammers are made heavier and as 
>they become heavier their sound become duller. The dynamic range becomes 
>smaller and smaller and this is what makes the piano seem less musical.

>I think there a limit to how heavy the hammers should be. Practically 
>eavery piano I have worked on dating from before WW2 had hammer sets 
>that are medium to light in weight. None of them had sets that are as 
>heavy as we see today. You would be surprised how many problems, both 
>tonally and mechanically, disappear by simply reducing hammer weight. I 
>now adjust the weight of each hammer set to work well with each piano. 
>With a light to medium weight hammer it doesn't take all that much 
>lacquer to improve the stiffness gradient.>Snip>

>John Hartman RPT

John you make some very good points about lacquer.  Have to comment on a
few points... you say hammers are made heavier because technicians demand
brighter sound but adding weight makes them duller..  Not sure what you
were trying to say there...  I find that high zone hammer weights develop a
wider and fuller dynamic range if they are made and voiced appropriately...
  There is a recording made at Elon College NC on a Steinway D 1926 that
you put a beautiful beautiful board in...  John Foy, the rebuilder,
requested a TopHigh hammer weight when I designed touch weight components.
This piano is VERY popular.  Ruth Laredo raved about it etc....  There is a
recording recently made with this piano and the tone is vibrant, and as
varied as a painters palette.  I'll get more information on this if anyone
on the list wants to order it and have listen...  

Light hammers rebound off the string more quickly so they are less tolerant
of lacquer or heat pressing...  nothing worse than a light hard hammer..
Ed McMorrow takes soft resilient hammers and lightens them until the tone
blooms but often there is so much weight removed that the tone is very
small.  The same bloom may be had with a heavy hammer when the proper
balance of density gradient and resiliency is achieved by manufacturing
process and voicing techniques.  The difference with the higher weight
hammer is that more vibration is had out of the soundboard...  I see light
hammers as just not exploiting the full vibrational potential of the
board...   but they can certainly sound beautiful.

Richard Brekne mentioned the tone on the Steinway C at the Grieg Institute
in Bergen, with Wurzen felt.  The hammer weight level on that instrument
was a 1/2 high.  Beautiful tone... good job Richard!   

Hammer weights have evolved upwards for good reasons otherwise the
evolution wouldn't have happened!  It's more challenging to work with high
zone hammers.  I can testify, based on extensive experience, that it's
worth the effort.  If I were to pick the most appropriate weight level for
most situations I would say TopMedium.   My personal pic would be 1/2 high.

Thanks again John and everyone for the good comments... especially about
adjusting the weight of each set to work optimally with the piano..   a new
term some of us are using more and more is "Tone Weight".. what is the best
weight for the tone...  hammer weight is the most overlooked aspect of
voicing and it's great that we are hearing more and more discussion about
hammer weight.   There is so much to be gained by paying attention to
hammer weight!   

David Stanwood

P.S. Hammer weight rating charts freely available at:
http://www.stanwoodpiano.com/touchweight.htm