<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; = charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 5.50.4613.1700" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi Ari,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Please finish your story.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I have always been very interested in = your method of voicing since taking a voicing class from you eight years ago.  = I am sure that your methods have changed with time a little and would = interested to know more of your methods of pre- voicing</FONT></DIV> <DIV>Joe Goss<BR><A href="mailto:imatunr@srvinet.com">imatunr@srvinet.com</A><BR><A href="http://www.mothergoosetools.com">www.mothergoosetools.com</A></DI= V> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; = BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: = black"><B>From:</B> <A title=isaacah@sprint.ca = href="mailto:isaacah@sprint.ca">isaacah</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=caut@ptg.org href="mailto:caut@ptg.org">caut@ptg.org</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, April 30, 2001 = 7:06 AM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Hammer maker's = corner</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV> <P>ARI ISAAC</P> <P>Hammer maker’s corner.</P> <P> </P> <P> </P> <P>I thought I’d like to write something about hammers at atime = when, as Mao Tse Tung said, "let a thousand flowers bloom…" there are so many = theories abroad about hammers, voicing and the like. My twenty plus years of = hammer making experience, from building the machinery, researching the felt, = to making the hammers that produce the special tone our hammers do = produce, may be of interest to some, .</P> <P> </P> <P>1. </P> <P>It is 1979. I have been running a tuning and piano rebuilding = practice since 1960. I was getting a bit bored with aspects of that. I’d = worked, for two years in a piano factory owned by Aeolian which saw to it that = entire forests of magnificent maple, birch, walnut and spruce were liquidated = to produce never would be pianos. After I couldn’t take that any = longer I’d started my own practice and there the choice was mine to a far greater = degree. In 1969 I started making my own, then others’ bass strings but = hammers were a bain. I knew the tone I wanted and I tried every hammer available at = this time, 1960 to 1978 or so. American, German, Asian… none of them = made it to my standards. I will not spend hours voicing hammers to get the minimum = color range I want, I refuse. </P> <P>I was griping about it so much and so frequently that my friend, = Tom Hathaway, a cool, aristocratic Bostonian somewhat soiled by rubbing = elbows with the 60s, said one day,</P> <P>-why don’t you make your own hammers? You’re crazy = enough to do it-.</P> <P>It was said in a tone of "stop complaining, if you’re so = unhappy, let’s see you do something about it". </P> <P>The words stuck, somehow and gradually, fantastically, as it seems = now, became a challenge. I had, of course, no clear idea how to go about = making hammers but more and more I wanted to. The thought of translating my = idea of piano tone, musical tone, to a tangible that music lovers could enjoy, = partake of my own idea of tone – that was exciting. Just maybe I could = contribute something gratifying to a few people. </P> <P>I did know I needed a hammer press. Where to start? I found a = hammer press maker in England who wanted $40000 for a press that, when he sent = photos, looked like a toy. That one was a no-no, next. I called Marty Negron = at Ronson, whose hammers I’d used and found wanting, and asked him = if I could come down, bring my machinist and make drawings of one of his hammer = presses, just think of the cheak, I can hardly believe it myself but, by then I = was so taken with the idea that nothing would stop me. Marty, the gentleman = that he was, said I was crazy to want to make hammers, that one went out the = other ear immediately but, yes, I could come down and take drawings.</P> <P>I called my then machinist, Dave a Yorkshire pudding and roast beef = stufed, kindly but slightly ineffectual, affecting an Oxford accent but very = pleasant Englishman and invited him for a plane trip down to Ronson Hammers in = the New York Catskills to take drawings of a hammer press. </P></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>