[CAUT] Fwd: Steinway sound-Hammer weights

[Fred Sturm]

On Mar 2, 2011, at 3:35 PM, Dale Erwin wrote:

>  I guess the limiting factor in every age is how heavy the action is  
> and will it give you carpal tunnel.


	The driving factor is hammer mass.
	There is a historical progression: Larger hammer mass to drive  
thicker strings and a heavier belly. This requires a lower ratio, to  
make it playable by humans. This leads to lower velocity of the  
hammer, less acceleration, less variation in strength of blow. This  
means that the hammers have to be denser or stiffer, to produce enough  
of a tone gradient to be a true piano sound.
	The ratio has continually decreased as hammer weight has increased,  
with quite a bit of that happening in the 2nd half of the 20th  
century. Both hammer mass and touch weight have increased over the  
centuries, together with dip (another aspect of the ratio becoming  
smaller). And, of course, we still work on pianos that are 50-150  
years old, many of which were built with lighter hammers and the  
associated higher ratio and lesser density.
	All of this can be confusing, especially when you consider that it  
didn't all happen smoothly and evenly. Steinway, for example,  
increased hammer weight and tried to compensate mostly with key leads,  
with obvious and continuing negative results. They also resisted  
changing the relatively soft hammer density, so the voicers ended up  
inventing and developing the lacquering process (that is my  
interpretation, not official history).
	In any case, I think it is best to try to see the whole picture, and  
not look at one particular aspect and call it good or bad without  
giving it a context. I don't think any one factor, be it hammer  
density, hammer mass, ratio, or touch weight, should be looked at in  
isolation, with some parameter called "good." We need to balance  
factors, always. Yes, I know I am being annoying and picky. I am  
agreeing with Del in much of this, so at least I have good company. <G>
Regards,
Fred Sturm
fssturm at unm.edu
"A mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled."  
Plutarch



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