On Oct 17, 2008, at 7:49 PM, Gevaert Pierre wrote: > Hi André, Hello Pierre, (; > > I am also much interested in your book about voicing. Voicing is > and has always been the most dificult item for me. > (Even afther your great demonstration in Brussels years ago !) It is probably the most difficult thing in all of the piano industry. I can think of a few other very difficult piano jobs.. what about dampers? what about designing and constructing soundboards? Anyway, voicing remains a mystery to many, but it should not be so. After many years of learning, experimenting, and making huge mistakes, I know a little bit more about it. It takes, I think, at least 20 to 30 years of practice to feel easy about voicing. > > This Weickert Special felt is intrigueing me as I’ve installed my > first set of Wurzen A (not AA) onto an old German grand and these > seems to be a lot to hard for me (and also to big) > I thought this Wurzen A felt would be much softer. I’m surprised > that you say that they are to soft for you. > Maybe I had a set that was harder than usually. That's probably the case. The 'soft spot' is usually around the killer octave. If you have a hard hammer it will be nasty, if you have a soft hammer it will be nasty and it requires more than just needling. > The old (ruined) hammers were verry soft and elastic and still > sounded verry nice.That’s why I’d like to try to needle them like > hell to mach the same softness of the original ones. > It seems to me that a soft elastic hammer can sound as clear as a > hard hammer but not so hard. Pierre, in the end it all depends on the quality and liveliness of the soundboard. If you have a difficult soundboard, you can go stand on your head... > > So André, what would you think that could happen when needling a > Wurzen A hammer unrtil it gets a bit spongy like the oldys ?? (‘not > in the trebble of course !) It's like this : Some sort of 'cushion' is required. A well made cushion acts like a shock absorber. However, if too much cushion has been applied, the basic power has been needled away. There is a nice rule : If a hammer sounds 'stony', like a pebble, there are usually two reasons for it : 1. either the cushion (shock absorber) is too hard. 2. or, the cushion is ok but the crown is too percussive due to a lack of needling or too much pounding. 3. or it is a combination of the two. One should aim for : Power! always Power! a shock absorber (cushion) to soften the violence and shrillness (too much emphasis on the higher partials) and.. extremely important : we should be able to FEEL the vibrations through the key! No vibes, no power, meaning too much cushion. > > I think I would like to live in the US as a tech because of this > different approach of hammer hardness. > > Maybe this Weickert Special is what I’m looking for. > > Kind regards, > > Pierre Gevaert America is a great country. Belgium too is a very nice place to be Pierre! There aint no Bruxelles overthere hehehehe..... friendly greetings from André Oorebeek Antoni van Leeuwenhoekweg 15 1401 VW, Bussum the Netherlands tel : +31 35 6975840 gsm : +31 652 388008 "where Music is, no harm can be" > > De : pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] De > la part de andré oorebeek > Envoyé : jeudi 16 octobre 2008 20:45 > À : Pianotech List > Objet : Re: Weickert Special-By Wurzen > > Hi Dale and Listers, > > Except from this list, I have not yet heard about the new "Weickert > Special by Wurzen" here in Europe. > I find that strange. > I will of course ask Renner, traditionally the Wurzen felt hammer > maker. > > I wonder about the hardness of this Weickert Special? > These last years new Wurzen felt hammers were a bit soft. I have > learned how to solve that problem, but I have asked Renner Europe to > do something about that. > I am a bit afraid that this new top quality felt might be too soft > as well. > We are in agreement that Jack Brand's felt is the best hammer felt > in the world, but, as I mentioned before, the AA quality was too > dense to my taste. > Too much needling and a weight problem. > > I therefor am happy with my Wurzen A from Renner. > I am of course curious though and open to try it out. > I will contact Jack Brand and Renner. > > My book? > It is in the hands of our friend Jurgen Goering. > I trust him completely and he is in charge. > I am in the process of taking the pictures and it will be a very > nice book. > It's actually the very first 'service manual for voicing > technicians' and it describes in detail the whole process of how to > voice new hammers and used hammers, plus a complete description of > the materials, the tools and the methods, the differences between > brands etc etc. > It will be published in English, but I will leave the actual date of > coming out to Jurgen. > > friendly greetings > from > André Oorebeek > Antoni van Leeuwenhoekweg 15 > 1401 VW, Bussum > the Netherlands > > tel : +31 35 6975840 > gsm : +31 652 388008 > > "where Music is, no harm can be" > > > > > On Oct 16, 2008, at 3:00 AM, erwinspiano at aol.com wrote: > > > > Hi Andre > Good to hear from you on this as I know you have championed the > cause of excellent feltand have been a staunch proponent of > properly pressed hammers. Both as you say is so important. > It's nice to know Renner makes a hammer you can work with there. > Renner USA in the states has also been a long and trusted supporter > of Wurzen Felt co. & the Brand family. In fact, from the very > beginning Lloyd Meyer Of Renner U.S.A. signed up with Jack to > reintroduce the quality felt made in that plant. The Quality of The > Renner USA product shows the Commitment of Lloyd & Donna Meyer to > this endeavor. We are directly and indirectly in there debt as they > were one of Jacks first clients when the plant reopened in 1992. > Consequently Jack has passionately pursued the making of Fine > Hammer felt using many of the original J.D Weickert co. formulas and > protocols. > The Wurzen made felts have been called thus far and are Known by > the felt grades of... Wurzen.. A ... and AA. > I want to be clear that this latest iteration is known by the now > trademarked name the "Weickert special by Wurzen" and is a fairly > dramatic shift up the quality line in terms of felt science and > technology. In fact Ray,Jack and I discoverd that it is so > dramatically different that w e decided it required this name. > All the Hammer felts Wurzen makes are fine quality and this new > Weickert special by Wurzen gives us another huge compliment to our > tonal arsenals & huge a move toward the future of a more musical > piano tone. > I will truthfully say that Jack is a true artisan felt maker who > is also as equally passionate about this endeavor as technicians. > This strkies me as odd because Jacks Wurzen co. make so many felt > products and hammer felt is small part of the felt making operation. > Yet, he loves it. You know...we are all passionate about something. > Jacks is felt & ours is tone > My Friends we have a true ally in our business & he is my friend, > Jack . My only regret is we didn't meet sooner. Perhaps we can get > him to teach at our conventions more frequently. > Andre, I'm looking forward to getting a copy of your voicing book. > WHen does it come out? > Dale Erwin > > You guys seem to forget that Renner makes very beautiful hammers > here in Europe, with.. Wurzen felt. > I have been in contact with Jack Brand for a long time, and I have > followed the development of his 'Wurzen felt' right from the start, > after the reunion of the two Germany's. > I have had this fantastic felt for a=2 0long time now and I never > ever want any other felt. > Because of my age, (I am 59) I am a typical example of a generation > that was forced to learn voicing with the felt that was for sale as > an alternative for the Weickert felt, simply because the Weickert > felt was not produced anymore after the Soviets entered East Germany. > Getting acquainted with the 'new' Wurzen felt was a surprising > discovery! even though it was in its early stages of development > after all those years. > I have actually learned to voice this renewed Weickert felt, which > was named Wurzen felt after the town where it is made (Wurzen), at > Yamaha, because they were, I guess, one of the very first ones > (together with Steinway, to use the new Wurzen felt on their CFIII-S. > I do not really like the AA standard because it is, according to me, > too dense and too heavy, and it takes much longer to voice than the > single A standard which is my favorite. > The real secret of having a fine success with these hammers is : > 1. the quality of the wool > 2. the quality of the felt > 3. the quality of the hammer maker > 4. the quality of the technician > > I have been able to influence Renner to make a hammer for me, > according to my taste. > That makes all the difference! and that is , I guess, is what Ray > Negron is doing. > He (Ray Negron)20told me that his father used Weickert felt in the > old days. > Because of our contact, years ago, and through the willingness of > Jack Brand, the Weickert/Wurzen felt came back to Ronsen and back to > the US. > > friendly greetings > from > André Oorebeek > > > > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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