<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div>On Mar 3, 2011, at 9:49 AM, David Love wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; ">I find that with the professional pianists that I work with (and there are<br>quite a few) brighter is rarely the choice for their practice pianos. Most<br>want a pretty round and warm sound, clear and not muffled, but not what I<br>would consider bright.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></blockquote></div><div><br></div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Thanks for the response. I am not really talking about bright overall as a consistent expectation/desire, but about having an available tonal spectrum that continues to rise in the top end of the force applied. The brilliance of a concerto instrument is rarely a good choice for a practice or studio instrument. But, OTOH, when you go "too dark" or "muffled," and lack range of color, that is unacceptable. Clarity and range seems to be the top priority, with overall color negotiable, as long as the hammer "continues to rise" (as the Germans put it). I do not see that happening with too soft a hammer in a modern parameter instrument, in any instance I have had personal contact with. Practically speaking, I'd rather start a little hard and needle down than guess wrong on the low side. (Though I do work with a lot of Steinway hammers with the expectation of lacquer, and that is another side of the coin - certainly different from installing soft hammers with the expectation of not lacquering)<div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>In any case, one thing I would be very interested in is experience with a concert instrument in a reasonably large hall (200+ seats), whether there is anyone who has put on soft hammers in that situation and found that they were accepted by the performers. What I have heard from colleagues and gathered from my own experience is that invariably significant hardener has needed to be added to produce acceptable results.<br><div apple-content-edited="true"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>Regards,</div><div>Fred Sturm</div><div><a href="mailto:fssturm@unm.edu">fssturm@unm.edu</a></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Tahoma">"We either make ourselves happy<br>or miserable. The amount of work is <br>the same." - Carlos Casteneda</font></div></div></span></div></span> </div><br></div></body></html>