Wurzen Felt

[Joseph Garrett]

I've been following this thread with amusement and interest. How many of you
have seen the hand process for making hammers?
You could take a 50 pound sheet of felt and "skive" it to the dimensions to
use it in a "12 pound cull" and have truly nice hammers, albeit, rather
small in dimensional size. On the other hand, you could take a 12 pound
sheet of felt and "Skive" it to the dimensions to be used in a "20 pound
cull" and have nice hammers, albeit humongous dimensionally. Either would be
ok for the tone desired. The big problem, as I see it, is how the felt is
treated. Is it cold pressed or hot pressed. Is it pressed with 50 tons of
pressure or is it pressed with 15 tons of pressure? And then there is: how
long were the hammers left in the culls to get their "set", etc. The
variables are endless. Those hammer makers that make the same consistent
hammers, time after time after time, are aware of the variables and make an
effort to control them. Those hammer makers that don't have the consistency
are not paying attention to ALL of the variables ALL of the time. Hence, we
have such a litany of opinions of what is a good hammer.
The best advise I ever got for this dilemma was: "Find a hammer/maker that
does the best job for you. Get used to working with that hammer. And you
will be able to get whatever tone desired. In other words, if you keep
bouncing back and forth from one hammer to another, you simply are spinning
your wheels, IMO. A lot has to do with the seller; how good are they at
supplying, shipping and extra help, when needed. All these things go into
making the hammers of your choice. I had a very good technician extol the
virtues of Steinway hammers. I tried them and found them to be inconsistent
and downright unworkable, FOR ME. He gets good results. I do not. Hence, I
use something else.
When it comes to voicing, I have added to my knowledge, over the years, to
be able to COPE with most hammers. This knowledge also tells me which
hammers I do not want to use on a regular basis. I hate the voicing process
and will do darned near anything to avoid it. But that's another story, for
another day.
Best Regards,
Joe Garrett, RPT, (Oregon)

Been There, Didn't Like It, So I'm Here To Stay! [G}