[CAUT] Steinway D 25lb felt from NY - Watchdogs needed

[David Stanwood]

Dear All,

In my consulting work providing Precision TouchDesign Specifications 
to my agent group I receive a lot of hammer weight data on new 
hammers and have been receiving such data for almost two decades.  I 
have a pretty good handle on what's normal and expected from various 
manufacturers.

I just received a set of data for a set of new Steinway D hammers 
that is worth sharing publicly because it falls on the edge of what I 
would call normal.  The word I get is that Steinway NY has in their 
pipeline a new design for their Steinway D hammers using 25lb felt. 
The note from the factory that came with the hammers says:

"Please be aware that these new Model D hammers are being delivered 
with no lacquer solution or "juice" having been applied. Fabrication 
improvements have significantly reduced the amount of reinforcing 
solution that may be required. For this reason, please apply any 
solution sparingly if tone building is required. If you have any 
questions or concerns, please call parts department 1-800-366-1853"

I spoke with the Steinway NY parts Dept. yesterday and they confirmed 
that all D sets would be of this type from now on.  The Hammer/Strike 
Weight level on this one set are higher than just about anything I 
have ever seen in my experience.  They start out in the low high zone 
at note 1 increasing to top high at note 40 then top high or higher 
from notes 55 - 80 down to 1/2 high at 88.  This set of hammers has 
been tapered normally.  The graph may be viewed at:

http://www.stanwoodpiano.com/D25LBSW1.pdf

I have had experience with hammers of this weight level.  There is a 
Steinway D at Cincinnati Conservatory that I specified top high 
hammer weights for and the sound is indeed BIG.  It's a powerhouse 
piano for a big hall.  I've only specified a handful of others at 
TopHigh for special needs.  I'm posting here as a warning of sorts. 
Hammers of this weight level could create touch weight problems 
without special attention given to the Touch Design Setup.  Also tone 
issues.  Some sound boards can get overloaded with hammer weight 
levels above 1/2 High Zone.  The piano will tell you.

If any of you have received a set of these hammers and would like to 
share your hammer weight data I'd be happy to produce graphs and 
report back to the group.  Either ready to hang weights or strike 
weights would be fine.  88 samples please.  With more data we can get 
a truer picture of what is going on here.  Please send me your data! 
Either raw data or in an excel sheet:

Strike Weight and Hammer Weight excel sheets at:

http://www.stanwoodpiano.com/E-SmartChart3.xls

David Stanwood

"Just trying to help"