Wurzen felt

[David Love]

Tone weight is a good term and I think there is real validity to this
concern.  I have had an experience on the other end fo the spectrum.  I
have a customer with a Hamburg Steinway A (newer one).  She wanted the
action heavier so a previous technician put clips on the shanks.  Though
she liked the weight, the tone became very unpleasant to her and others who
heard the piano.  I suggested we try removing the clips (she had not made
the connection), fortunately an easy thing to do.  The tone that she had
loved about the piano returned.  A match of hammer weight to the soundboard
assembly (and the relative density of the hammer, perhaps), is clearly
important.  Heavier hammers do not always sound better, as I have often
heard stated here.   

David Love
davidlovepianos@earthlink.net


> [Original Message]
> From: David C. Stanwood <stanwood@tiac.net>
> To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Date: 5/11/2003 8:21:30 AM
> Subject: Re: Wurzen felt
>
> >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
> _______________________________________________
> pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives