Renner Blues (was Re: Ronsen Wurzen)

[Phillip Ford]

>Hi Phil,
>
>I'm curious about what you said regarding the Renner Blues. For whatever 
>reason, I was under the impression they were more mellow sounding - ideal 
>for older pianos. Eventually I'll need to replace the hammers on my 1925 
>Steinway L, and I was leaning toward the Renner Blues since I don't like a 
>punchy/bright sound.
>
>Thanks.
>
>- John

Soft and hard are relative terms.  I like soft hammers, so the type of 
hammers that I use might be categorized by others as very soft and 
soft.  It's a matter of perspective.  On a scale of 1 - 10, with 1 being a 
marshmallow and 10 being granite, I would say that the hammers that I like 
to use are in the 2 - 6 range; the Steinway hammers being 2 - 3, depending 
on the set you get, and the Renner Blues being 6.  I think of the Blues as 
'hard' hammers, because I have to voice them down, as opposed to a soft 
hammer that I have to voice up.  But they're not hard at all compared to 
other types of Renner hammers or many Asian hammers.  Renner USA bills them 
as mellow sounding hammers formulated for old American pianos.  They're 
mellow compared to the typical Renner hammers that we used to see here a 
few years ago, but I wouldn't describe them as soft.  I tend to think of 
them as somewhat 'punchy/bright', but once again that's within the range of 
hammers that I tend to work with.  As with any hammer, I find that they 
work well on certain pianos, less well on others.  And they give a 
different sort of sound than a really soft hammer like a Steinway or 
Ronsen/Bacon, even if they were voiced way up, so they also give me the ability 
to create a different kind of sound for people that want it.  I don't 
personally like them on Steinways.  But I have put them on a couple of 
Steinways for clients that wanted a more agressive sound.  They were very 
pleased with the results.  This stuff is a matter of personal taste.

Phil Ford