[pianotech] Hammers or duplex?

[Ron Nossaman]

Joe Wiencek wrote:
> This subject was heatedly debated recently, 

With one individual providing all the heat, yes.

>that is, which is the source 
> of extraneous noise, poorly mated hammers, or issues relating to duplex 
> length?  

The long front duplex lengths are the problem. Poorly mated 
hammers/strings will most certainly produce phasing noises 
elsewhere, but the short duplexes won't make noise however 
badly mated the hammers/strings. Nor will the long front 
duplex lengths necessarily become quiet however perfectly the 
hammer/string mating is accomplished.


>I just want to throw out another question, because I'm not a 
> scientist.  What about upright pianos?  Even with poorly shaped hammers, 
> I don't encounter too much noise in uprights?  Any one with more 
> empiricism care to comment?

Uprights don't have long front duplex segments. That's it.
Ron N