[CAUT] Fwd: Steinway sound-Hammer weights

[Horace Greeley]

At 06:19 PM 3/2/2011, you wrote:
>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.

Right.

>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.

...this latter is an often overlooked factor.

>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).

I'm not sure it's quite that clean; but it works as a general premise.

>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>

Annoying?  Picky?  You?  Me?  ...any number of other people on this 
list?....never happen.

Best.

Horace


>Regards,
>Fred Sturm
><mailto:fssturm at unm.edu>fssturm at unm.edu
>"A mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled." Plutarch
>
>