New Steinway Hammers was---hammer thickness trimming jig

[William Monroe]

OK, Thanks David.  Always curious about others experience/preferences.

William R. Monroe


> The problem is mostly one of control.  As Ed mentioned, he has a set that 
> he
> may have to soak in thinner because it's too bright and. Presumably, not
> responding adequately to needles.  And if the hammer has too much lacquer
> it's destroyed, in my view.  I can only guess how that hammer will develop
> over time.  The hammers from Steinway have been very inconsistent in terms
> of pressing and shape for many years.  Recently, they have improved on 
> shape
> but I think the prelacquering was to compensate for a pressing that was 
> just
> too mushy by itself and because the dealers often didn't have techs who 
> felt
> comfortable working with lacquer and so the pianos ended up like mush 
> balls
> on the showroom floor.  I have found that the Bacon sets from Ronsen do 
> not
> really change the palette in terms of being in sync with the Steinway 
> model.
> But you can order them pretty much any weight, or thickness and Ray can
> deliver.  The pressing is a bit firmer than Steinway's so when you do add
> lacquer you only need a very mild solution.  That adds density without
> binding everything together and the hammer doesn't lose its resilience.
> There have been other problems as well such as the overall length being 
> too
> short which means the tail is too short and checking is compromised.
>
> In fairness, I haven't seen an unlacquered set of Steinway hammers in 
> awhile
> because I pretty much gave up on them a few years ago.  They might be
> improved but nothing I've heard recently in terms of their new pianos has
> impressed me with respect to hammers.  Something happened in their
> manufacturing of hammers awhile ago and I can't tell you what it was 
> exactly
> but they are neither consistent nor any good nor worth the money, in my
> view.  Unless a customer absolutely insisted, I wouldn't use them and if I
> did, I would insist that they come without any lacquer.
>
> David Love