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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Nancy</span></font><font size=2
color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;
color:navy'>: Just wanted to add that I use Ronsen (either Bacon or
Wurzen) on probably 80 - 90% of what I do—but then most of what I do are
Steinways. I make exception in certain performance situations where I
need heavier and denser and/or if the customer preference is for something
beefier. The danger, suggested in another post, of holding up one
manufacturer’s master voicer’s opinion as the gospel on what makes
good piano tone is that each manufacturer has their own tonal model. Setting
up a vintage 1920’s NY Steinway with the Yamaha model in mind or using
the same criteria for determining the proper voice would be a big mistake, in
my view. Yamaha does what they do quite well but, as you know, it would
be inappropriate on a piano with a lower tension scale, lighter weight
soundboard and whose original hammer design was soft and lightweight to go
along with it just as putting a Bacon felt hammer on a Yamaha with higher
tension scale and heavier board to go with it would also be a mistake—though
I have done it on one occasion that I can think of where the customer really
wanted a very soft and fuzzy type of sound. Steinway does present it’s
own problems because nobody really makes a hammer that is quite like the one’s
on those early pianos. </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>It’s all about custom work which
means taking the time to communicate about customer goals. It also means,
in this case, selecting the best fit hammer for the piano and the
customer. It takes a bit more time to make that determination and you
have to charge for it. But you don’t need to put on the entire
set. </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
<div>
<p><font size=2 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
color:navy'>David Love<br>
davidlovepianos@comcast.net<br>
www.davidlovepianos.com</span></font><font color=navy><span style='color:navy'>
</span></font></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>-----Original Message-----<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>From:</span></b> David Love
[mailto:davidlovepianos@comcast.net] <br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> </span></font><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>Saturday, April
19, 2008</span></font><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma'> </span></font><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>11:35 AM</span></font><font
size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'><br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> 'College and University
Technicians'<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> RE: [CAUT] Abel select
Vs. Ronsen-Wurzen</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>(I corrected the subject
line as it was starting to bother me)</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>I always carry a sample
kit (so to speak) of a variety of hammers glued to shanks. You can pretty
much put a Steinway shank on any piano and make it work for trial
purposes. I carry samples of Ronsen Wurzen and Bacon, Renner Blues, Abel
Selects (and more recently Abel “Natural Felt” on which the jury is
still out). Those four or five hammers cover the range of soft to
hard. By putting on a couple of samples in the tenor and lower treble you
can get a sense of what the piano will produce. I don’t worry much
about the bass and high treble for sampling. My time to sample and
discuss is part of an estimate “fee” which I handle in various ways
if they decide to go ahead with the job. Otherwise, I might just try them
during a standard servicing appointment. While it’s not always easy
to extrapolate an entire piano you can get a pretty good sense of where you
want to start anyway. Since all hammers can be manipulated up or down to
some degree relatively easily, you don’t have to hit it right on, just in
the ballpark. The time involved is not that great and you’d be
surprised how many hammer jobs you can sell this way. Most people are
unaware of how different hammers can really influence the tonal output and
often go for years unhappy with their instrument because they didn’t
realize the possibilities. </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Most suppliers will send
you couple of samples if you ask. My choice is a hammer around note 40
and one around note 60—right in the heart of the killer octave. </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
<div>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy'>David Love<br>
davidlovepianos@comcast.net<br>
www.davidlovepianos.com</span></font><font color=navy><span style='color:navy'>
</span></font></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:1.0in'><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>-----Original Message-----<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>From:</span></b> caut-bounces@ptg.org
[mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org] <b><span style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b>Nancy
Salmon<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> </span></font><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>Saturday, April
19, 2008</span></font><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma'> </span></font><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>9:23 AM</span></font><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'><br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> College and University
Technicians<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> Re: [CAUT] Abel aelect
Vs. Rosner-Wurtzen</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:1.0in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:
1.0in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>I've
avidly followed this thread. I use Ronsen myself and have been well pleased.
I'll certainly try some others.<br>
My question is this: you are all talking about a relatively expensive part and
highly skilled/priced labor for trial & error experimentation. How do work
this out with the customer; what if you or the customer doesn't like them? You
now have a used/new set of hammers.<br>
Nancy Salmon RPT<br>
</span></font>Frostburg State University<br>
MD</p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:1.0in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>On </span></font>Fri, Apr 18, 2008 at 9:40 AM, David Love <<a href="mailto:davidlovepianos@comcast.net">davidlovepianos@comcast.net</a>>
wrote:</p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:1.0in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>It depends on the piano and what the customer wants.
I've changed many sets<br>
of Abel and Renner hammers off older Steinways where no amount of needling<br>
was going to achieve the tone that the customer wanted and put on Bacon Felt<br>
hammers that were darn near perfect after some shaping and polishing. So
my<br>
conclusion and experience is considerably different than yours and I<br>
encourage people to sample different types of hammers and see for<br>
themselves. I think they'll find that the one hammer suits all is what's<br>
"overdriven" here.<br>
<font color="#888888"><span style='color:#888888'><br>
David Love<br>
<a href="mailto:davidlovepianos@comcast.net">davidlovepianos@comcast.net</a><br>
<a href="http://www.davidlovepianos.com" target="_blank">www.davidlovepianos.com</a></span></font></span></font></p>
<div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:
1.0in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><br>
-----Original Message-----<br>
From: <a href="mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org">caut-bounces@ptg.org</a> [mailto:<a
href="mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org">caut-bounces@ptg.org</a>] On Behalf Of<br>
Richard Brekne<br>
Sent: </span></font>Friday, April 18, 2008 12:07 AM<br>
To: <a href="mailto:caut@ptg.org">caut@ptg.org</a><br>
Subject: [CAUT] Abel aelect Vs. Rosner-Wurtzen<br>
<br>
Hi<br>
<br>
I think really that your post goes to show that just about any reasonbly<br>
made hammer can work quite well in just about any piano. I'm coming<br>
more and more to the conclusion that very much of the to do about<br>
differerent hammer types is quite overdriven. To be sure, a hammer can<br>
be made so as to be impossible, or nearly so, to work up any real<br>
elasticity... and you do have the real qualitative difference between<br>
hammers meant to be needled and those meant for addition of lacquer.<br>
But that said if you have a decently made set in front of you, you can<br>
get them to work. Some may require a bit more work then others... some
not.<br>
<br>
With regard to hammers meant to be needled.... I'd also like to point<br>
out that it increasingly seems to me that there is no such thing as the<br>
hammer that just sounds good from the get go... and we can leave them as<br>
is. Recent experiences showed me quite clearly that even moderately<br>
soft hammers benefit greatly (with regards to increased elasticity and<br>
dynamic range) if needled to release lower and mid shoulder tensions<br>
even if this requires a good soaking of very thin solids lacquer<br>
afterwards. Indeed, this has become really a third road for me, and a<br>
surprising one at that.<br>
<br>
Cheers<br>
RicB<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Hi All,<br>
<br>
I was wandering if any of you have tried the Abel
"Select" from<br>
Pianotek vs. other hammers. I have put them in a Mason &
Hamlin CC, two<br>
9'2" Bechstein ENs, and several Steinways. I have found them
to give a<br>
great sound with little voicing. I have been told that from one of
the<br>
professors that played a new Steinway B at another university that<br>
while the new B had a great sound, it could not match the sound of
the<br>
Steinway B that I put the Abel "Select" hammers on. I
was also told by<br>
all of the staff that neither of the Bechsteins sounded nearly as
good<br>
as they do now. I was just told by a guest artist that she loved
the<br>
Mason & Hamlin because of the beautiful coloring of the tone
of the<br>
piano. Just curious to see if anyone else out there has tried
these<br>
hammers and how they liked them.<br>
<br>
Bill Balmer, RPT<br>
<br>
</p>
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