Hi Dave, You're exactly right!  No matter what hammers are on those pianos, they get bright....and very quickly!  2 of 5 piano faculty have 2 B's each; one has 2 M's, one an L, and the other has her own personal Yam c-7.  It would be a nearly full time job to keep them in great tune, regulation, and voiced properly.  The yam is the yam and since it's hers, can do very little. The M's are nice and not played hard, the L is likewise not pounded on, but played regularly and has Abel Naturals on.  It's the 4 B's that need constant attention!  One prof is an extremely hard player with likewise hard playing students, so I'm fixing broken strings about every 6 weeks. Mostly this happens in the capo, but the Sty with the Sty hammers has busted 4 bass strings in 2 years.  His pianos have a set of regular Sty hammers and the other has a set of Wallys Naturals. Both break strings about the same. The other prof has NY hammers on both, but not as hard a player. I rarely fix broken strings there. I try to watch the regulation closely as I can, but I fear if I back off the let off and drop, they'll complain that pp or ppp is impossible to control. They are bright!  I'll voice them down, but it only lasts a couple months.  I can see how that would tire the poor prof, but what can we do? Good input! On to fight another day.. Paul <table width=100%> <tr valign=top> <td>From: <td>"David M. Porritt" <dmporritt@gmail.com> <tr valign=top> <td>To: <td><caut@ptg.org> <tr valign=top> <td>Date: <td>03/03/2011 02:06 PM <tr valign=top> <td>Subject: <td>Re: [CAUT] Fwd:  Steinway sound-Hammer weights</table> <hr noshade> <tt>When I was working at SMU the piano teachers with a full load of students didn't want a loud and boisterous piano in their studio (all had 2 "B"s except one teacher who had to "D"s).  As one piano teacher with 55 years of experience there stated: "...you can't listen to 4 or 5 hours of a bright piano.  The cochlea will fatigue and you will miss subtle things."  I think he is absolutely correct. dave -----Original Message----- From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [</tt><a href="mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org"><tt>mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org</tt></a><tt>] On Behalf Of David Love Sent: Thursday, March 03, 2011 10:49 AM To: caut@ptg.org Subject: Re: [CAUT] Fwd: Steinway sound-Hammer weights I agree about the concert hall in most situations although I do have a piano that I work on in a small concert hall in which I worked closely with a committee of pianists to select hammer and voice for the piano as they wanted it when I was rebuilding the action for them (Steinway B).  The group of 5 or 6 professional pianists and teachers ended up choosing a Wurzen felt hammer (Ronsen), a comparatively soft pressing when compared with the more typical lacquered up hammer or a Renner performance type hammer, and with the exception of the top two octaves received no hardeners, and even then a very light application.  The piano sits next to a 30 year old Bosendorfer 228 which produces somewhat more power and the complaints I get (not too many :-)) are never about the Steinway being too soft but do happen with the Bosendorfer being too loud and bright and I've voiced it down some to please the even below where I would prefer to hear it.  The hall is rather live though.  Just one example.  Personally, I find that Steinway a bit dark (and I probably lean toward warmer and slightly darker as my own personal taste) so that might tell you something at least about this one situation and this group of pianists, FWIW. I find that with the professional pianists that I work with (and there are quite a few) brighter is rarely the choice for their practice pianos.  Most want a pretty round and warm sound, clear and not muffled, but not what I would consider bright.  Softer hammers have often been the choice here (though not on a D necessarily, but most I know don't practice on D's). They seem to have no trouble extrapolating to the concert hall but for day in and day out practicing they want something more pleasing even erring on darker over brighter.  Not always true, of course.  Many of the professors whose pianos I keep at Stanford prefer the pianos brighter, but not all. Perhaps that's because they are going back and forth between their studios and the stage pianos more often.  Outside of that setting, however, with most of the professional pianists that I work with I would say that I'm generally asked to bring things down far below the level of where you would expect a concert stage piano to be.  I do find that serious piano students (on the other hand), especially those on the ascent, often prefer brighter. I don't want to delve into my own theory about what that psychology might be but I do see a trend coming out of one, in particular, well known East Coast music school that seems to value power and brashness over nuance and depth. Standards get set in all kinds of ways. David Love </tt><a href=www.davidlovepianos.com><tt>www.davidlovepianos.com</tt></a><tt> The softer hammer may make some customers very, very happy, but I don't think it works in the concert hall, or in the professional pianist's studio (or as the serious student's practice instrument). Perhaps there are exceptions, and if so I'd like to hear about them. Regards, Fred Sturm fssturm@unm.edu “Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.” Brecht </tt>