---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment On 16-jul-04, at 19:39, Quentin Codevelle wrote: > Hi all, > =A0 > Andre Told us that the Wurzen felt brings us back to the quality of=20 > felt that could be found on pianos at the beginning of the 20th=20 > century. > At that time,was this felt available in the us too, or was the wurzen=20= > felt only used in europe? > Is Ronsen the first hammer maker using this felt? > Because there=A0seem to be=A0a lot of differences between the american = and=20 > european way to voice the hammers, so I thought a difference of felt=20= > would explain why the two ways of voicing are different. > =A0 > Quentin > Hello Quentin, The Wurzen felt as we know it now, was formerly called 'Weickert filz'. The name 'Weickert' comes from the Weickert family who owned the=20 Weickert Filz factory in Wurzen (a city north of leipzig). The Weickert family developed their piano felt in such a way that they =20= received international awards, so it might very well conceivable that=20 they sold it to the USA as well in those days. I just looked into Alfred Dolge's "Piano's and their Makers" where he=20 describes on page 120 the development of the felt industry. He mentions "the Whitehead brothers of Manchester who are said to be=20 the first who made the manufacturing of piano hammer felt a specialty"=20= He also mentions "Billon and FFortin of Paris and Weickert (1847) of=20 leipzig, Germany. "Naish of Wilton, England, started on 1859. These=20 firms controlled the market until the author started his factories in=20 1871. Alfred Dolge was a key figure in the American Piano industry and we can=20= assume that after he introduced his felt and felt presses in the US,=20 his felt and his hammers were of the highest importance in the USA. The Weickert family probably sold a huge number of hammer felt sheets=20 internationally, but it probably came to a halt after A. Dolge entered=20= the market. I personally think that the Weickert family sold most of their piano=20 felt to European hammer makers and we find their products in all kinds=20= of piano's, but mostly German like old Schiedmayers, Bl=FCtners,=20 Bechsteins, Hamburg Steinways, and many more. The Weickert family was one of the oldest in the history of commercial=20= felt makers in old Europe so they must have had a severe impact on the=20= market of those days. The Brand family moved in after the fall of the Berlin wall. They=20 purchased the old Weickert factory and the son, Jack brand made it his=20= goal to retrieve the old secrets of making superb piano felt. I was among the first Renner customers who discovered this 'new' felt=20 which came back on the market in the early 1990's and found out (to my=20= amazement) that only a few years later Hamburg Steinway as well as=20 Yamaha used this very felt on their beautiful instruments. The reason why I write so much about this issue, is that became aware=20 of this new felt development in its earliest stage. If Phillip Ford calls me "mr Wurzen", he is right. I am an absolute=20 advocate of this great felt development, started anew by Jack Brand,=20 because it was/is a great improvement of the lousy felt we had to work=20= with during the absence of the Weickert felt, caused by the Russians=20 Communists who occupied the East of germany, and thereby killed a=20 famous and magnificent felt quality (like they killed so many other=20 high quality goods). As I am merely a piano technician, I have not had the opportunity yet=20 to really delve into this matter, but on the other hand, I have had=20 several opportunities to get a little more knowledge about these piano=20= industrial developments. friendly greetings from Andr=E9 Oorebeek Amsterdam - The Netherlands www.concertpianoservice.nl www.grandpiano.nl "where music is, no harm can be" ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 4086 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/e3/38/01/84/attachment.bin ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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