You said David, Thanks for the information. I dont know of any one selling hammers as light as your low tonal projection. Your Medium Tonal projection hammers are about as light as I have seen used on modern pianos going back to the 1920s. You said "Think about this: If the strike weight is brought to zero the tonal power will go to zero, so there has to be a point were tonal power diminishes as a function of weight" It's also true that as the hammer mass is increased a point will be reach when the hammer contact with the string will last longer than the string's fundamental effectively damping the string. As far as achieving a powerful tone the Hammers weight has to be designed to work with the string scale, strike point and the soundboard response first. How the hammer weight effects the action is a problem to be considered second. If a heavier hammer is opted for then the action leverage will have to be less. This reduces the friction at the knuckle and requires fewer leads in the key for balance. If a lighter hammer is chosen the leverage will need to be greater providing the hammers with greater acceleration on its way to the string. John Hartman
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC