SURFACING Hammers....Should be Wurzen Felt

[Ray Negron]

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Hi Andre,

Hope you had a nice vacation.

My father was the first person to tell me about Weikert felt, and how
wonderful it was. He worked for Pfriemer Piano Hammer Co. starting in the
late 1930's. They sometimes used Weikert felt, until Pfriemer bought their
own felt mill. Also, Vince Vilim made hammers with imported felt, but I
don't know which company he used. My father would be very happy that this
felt is back.

Ray Negron
Ronsen Piano Hammer
  -----Original Message-----
  From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org]On
Behalf Of antares
  Sent: Friday, July 16, 2004 2:06 PM
  To: Pianotech
  Subject: Re: SURFACING Hammers....Should be Wurzen Felt



  On 16-jul-04, at 19:39, Quentin Codevelle wrote:


    Hi all,

    Andre Told us that the Wurzen felt brings us back to the quality of felt
that could be found on pianos at the beginning of the 20th century.
    At that time,was this felt available in the us too, or was the wurzen
felt only used in europe?
    Is Ronsen the first hammer maker using this felt?
    Because there seem to be a lot of differences between the american and
european way to voice the hammers, so I thought a difference of felt would
explain why the two ways of voicing are different.

    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 Weickert
Filz factory in Wurzen (a city north of leipzig).
  The Weickert family developed their piano felt in such a way that they
received international awards, so it might very well conceivable that 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
describes on page 120 the development of the felt industry.
  He mentions "the Whitehead brothers of Manchester who are said to be the
first who made the manufacturing of piano hammer felt a specialty" He also
mentions "Billon and FFortin of Paris and Weickert (1847) of leipzig,
Germany. "Naish of Wilton, England, started on 1859. These firms controlled
the market until the author started his factories in 1871.

  Alfred Dolge was a key figure in the American Piano industry and we can
assume that after he introduced his felt and felt presses in the US, 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
internationally, but it probably came to a halt after A. Dolge entered the
market.

  I personally think that the Weickert family sold most of their piano felt
to European hammer makers and we find their products in all kinds of
piano's, but mostly German like old Schiedmayers, Blütners, Bechsteins,
Hamburg Steinways, and many more.
  The Weickert family was one of the oldest in the history of commercial
felt makers in old Europe so they must have had a severe impact on the
market of those days.
  The Brand family moved in after the fall of the Berlin wall. They
purchased the old Weickert factory and the son, Jack brand made it his goal
to retrieve the old secrets of making superb piano felt.
  I was among the first Renner customers who discovered this 'new' felt
which came back on the market in the early 1990's and found out (to my
amazement) that only a few years later Hamburg Steinway as well as Yamaha
used this very felt on their beautiful instruments.

  The reason why I write so much about this issue, is that became aware of
this new felt development in its earliest stage.
  If Phillip Ford calls me "mr Wurzen", he is right. I am an absolute
advocate of this great felt development, started anew by Jack Brand, because
it was/is a great improvement of the lousy felt we had to work with during
the absence of the Weickert felt, caused by the Russians Communists who
occupied the East of germany, and thereby killed a famous and magnificent
felt quality (like they killed so many other high quality goods).

  As I am merely a piano technician, I have not had the opportunity yet to
really delve into this matter, but on the other hand, I have had several
opportunities to get a little more knowledge about these piano industrial
developments.

  friendly greetings
  from
  André Oorebeek

  Amsterdam -
  The Netherlands

  www.concertpianoservice.nl
  www.grandpiano.nl

  "where music is, no harm can be"

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