Evidence of overlacquered hammers

[David Love]

The evidence of different soundboards (and soundboards in various
conditions) needing hammers of varying densities is so abundant in the
piano circles that I run in that I don't even know what to say to those
who are interested in this possibility except try it for yourself and
see.  You wouldn't put a very hard Renner hammer designed for a
Boesendorfer on a piano that would sound best with a Ronsen soft Bacon
felt hammer--and there are many such examples out there.  A lengthy
explanation as to why that might be is more than I am prepared to get
into at this point but in as much as new soundboards require different
types of hammers (think Yamaha hammers on a NY Steinway or vice versa)
so will old ones.  An old ugly Yamaha that probably sounded ok with a
Yamaha hammer when it was new, may very well sound better with a softer
Wurzen hammer now that it's older and responding differently and tends
to support my point.  The evidence is at least empirical whatever the
science may or may not convince you of.  While a medium hammer may give
the most flexibility to go either way on many pianos, there will be
cases where hammers which fall at one end of the spectrum or the other
will be the better fit. 

As far as how long a hammer will last, unlacquered versus lacquered; the
issue seems to be how much lacquer and how it is applied.  A weak
stiffening solution probably doesn't do much to effect the life of the
hammer.  But since lacquer gets harder and more brittle over time, a
heavily lacquered hammer will not last in terms of controllability as
long as an unlacquered hammer, assuming it hasn't been needled to death.


David Love
davidlovepianos@comcast.net 

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On
Behalf Of Richard Brekne
Sent: Friday, October 01, 2004 5:04 AM
To: ilvey@sbcglobal.net; Pianotech
Subject: Re: Evidence of overlacquered hammers

...That went to claims about soundboard condition dictating 
this or that kind of hammer. I dissagreed ...