<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2802" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial" bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV>On the same subject as strings breaking while playing, how about excessive wear on hammers? I have noticed that some pianos that had been played "a lot," the hammers didn't seem all that worn out. While on others, I have seen hammers on relatively new instruments (less than 5 years old), with about the same amount of use, that were extremely worn out. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>With the discussion of the kind of playing that caused strings to break, is the same true for hammer wear? Does different kinds of playing cause hammers to wear out faster than other kinds? I'm not a pianist, so I can't compare playing styles. I do know that some players "attack" the keys, while other seem to play them. Is that the difference?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Wim <DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">Willem Blees, RPT<BR>Piano Tuner/Technician<BR>School of Music<BR>University of Alabama<BR>Tuscaloosa, AL</FONT></DIV></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>