David: Did you mean 7/32" or 7/16" dave *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 5/12/2003 at 10:32 AM David Love wrote: >Yes, it seems that it is not a pure test. It was interesting, however, to >observe the difference. It brings something else to mind, which is what >happens when, say, a new action with 7/16" shanks is combined with a hammer >weight from the original design which utilized 3/16" shanks and of a >different species of wood. My own experience does suggest that a light >hammer on a 3/16" maple shank does not sound the same as that same hammer >on a hex 7/16" shank made of hornbeam. > >David Love >davidlovepianos@earthlink.net > > >> [Original Message] >> From: Stephen Birkett <sbirkett@real.uwaterloo.ca> >> To: Pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org>; <davidlovepianos@earthlink.net> >> Date: 5/12/2003 9:18:36 AM >> Subject: hammer mass (was Wurzen felt) >> >> David Love scripsit: >> > 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. >> >> An interesting experiment, for sure, but putting clips on the shanks >> is not the same thing as simply "increasing hammer mass". The clips >> will certainly affect the resonsant frequencies of the shanks which >> may well have been a significant contributor to the tonal change. We >> don't yet have general relationships which connect shank flexibility >> to tone, but there's plenty of anecdotal evidence about this, and >> shank resonances are a proposed mechanism. >> >> How to increase mass without altering shank resonance frequencies? >> You can't because *any* change in mass distribution of the >> hammer/shank system will influence these. Even adding or removing >> mass to (from) the hammer core may influence tone by altering the >> strike mass/string relationship, or by altering the shank/hammer >> resonances, or both. These are different phenomena. Unfortunately the >> nature of piano action mechanism makes it impossible to adjust >> independently only the strike mass/string mass relationship [which is >> what will be generally understood by "adjust the hammer mass"]. >> >> Ah...the complexities of our difficult friend the pianoforte. >> >> Stephen >> -- >> Dr Stephen Birkett >> Associate Professor >> Department of Systems Design Engineering >> University of Waterloo >> Waterloo, Ontario >> Canada N2L 3G1 >> >> Davis Building Room 2617 >> tel: 519-888-4567 Ext. 3792 >> PianoTech Lab Ext. 7115 >> mailto: sbirkett[at]real.uwaterloo.ca >> http://real.uwaterloo.ca/~sbirkett > > > >_______________________________________________ >pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives _____________________________ David M. Porritt dporritt@mail.smu.edu Meadows School of the Arts Southern Methodist University Dallas, TX 75275 _____________________________
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