Hi Julia, I think that it is very important to talk to your (potential) clients about the types of music that will be most often played on the piano, so that you can choose a hammer that will most easily fulfill that type of music's timbral and textural demands. That is to say, choose the hammer that will require the least extensive voicing procedures in order to please the musicians who will most often use the piano. Just from reading your "small music club's semi-professional recital hall" description, most groups that I know of that would fit that definition tend to focus on chamber music, such as voice and piano, piano with strings or solo woodwinds, accompanying choirs, and the like. If these are indeed the most common projected uses for the piano, then I would go for a softer but not pillowy-soft hammer. I like the Ronsen VFG for that application; they sound great right away, with only a little lacquering required in the top 5-8 notes (if they need a more thunderous bass, VFG's respond well to shoulder application of lacquer in the low bass as well). Of course, if instead they will be hosting mostly solo piano concerts by touring concert artists, or will be mostly hosting pop acts, or piano concertos with the local symphony, you might want a brighter hammer, such as Renner. So, the main suggestion I am making is to talk to your clients about their musical needs before choosing a hammer. If they are not articulate in talking about music and/or piano tone, ask to see a representative sampling of programs that they have staged; that should give you a good idea of which way to go. Good luck with it, Joe DeFazio Pittsburgh On Sep 17, 2009, at 3:54 PM, pianotech-request at ptg.org wrote: > From:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org]On > Behalf OfKeyKat88 at aol.com > Sent:Thursday, September 17, 2009 10:30 AM > To:pianotech at ptg.org > Subject:[pianotech] Weikert vs. Abel Naturals > > Greetings, > > Which hammers Werzen or Abel Naturals would be better in a 7' > Steinway? The piano is going to be used for a small music club's > semi-professional recital hall. The hall is "echoey" about 70ft > square. > > Any other suggestions? > > Thanks, > Julia Gottshall > Reading,PA -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20090917/daf68436/attachment-0001.htm>
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