I like your explanation, Bill. It makes sense. And we certainly do see many hammers that have too much felt on them. Or more to the point, too much softer outer felt. Whether one lacquers on the top of the hammer as Dale suggests or just above the molding as David has offered, it is important to have determined by filing a lot or a little and then listening, that the now outer felt is giving as much brilliance from this particular set of hammers as we can reasonably expect before trying other means. I have done enough doping myself over the years to know that a hammer with very soft outer felt that is lacquered will sound different than the same hammer that has been filed to get to some harder inner felt and then lacquered, and it won't sound as good. No contradiction to what you and David are saying, just a reminder that this is part of the process too. Will Truitt From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Wiliam Ballard Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2009 10:09 AM To: Pianotech List Subject: Re: [pianotech] Wurzen/Weickert felt On Feb 17, 2009, at 9:38 AM, David C. Stanwood wrote: My other comment.... when I was in School at North Bennet St. (1978) Bill Garlick taught us a technique which is very useful on these cold pressed hammers as a really safe way of using lacquer for building drive in the tone. Tip the stack up on its side and add some lacquer to the felt just above the tip of the moulding... do one side then turn it around and do the other... It gives foundation to the tone without having any deleterious effects on the surface of the felt and maintains a beautiful ppp quality that is the hallmark of a cold pressed hammer. The technique is consistent with the Dolge model of voicing.? I've been using this to very good effect for about six years now, after hearing it mentioned on PTx (referred to as the "Pearl of Power", as I remember). Mechanically what's happening is that the felt just above the underfelt (and the underfelt itself) is being moved from the flexible, live category (hammer felt) to the solid, inert category (wooden hammer moulding). Apparently, it's possible to have too much felt for good tone (especially considering that the part from the strike point on down the hammer CL where actual squash-under-impact occurs is quite shallow). Hardening under the strike point has the effect of extending the height of the moulding and subtracting from the thickness of the felt covering. I stay away from reinforcing the strike point unless it's quite clear that that's the only thing which will get me the sound I want. Best Regards, mrbl -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20090217/71f56874/attachment.html>
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