Hammer Selection

[Newton Hunt]

Dear Andrew,

In considering purchasing hammers you need to consider:
	Hammer weight
		Modern hammers tend to be heavy so go for a 
		lighter hammer.  The difference can be made up
		by removing some of the key weights.
	Hammer length
		The tail from bottom of the shank to end of 
		hammer should be no more or less than about 
		one inch.
	Boring specification
		Measure from keybed to under side of strings
		at each end of each section and the height
		of hammer center pins at each end of the action
		The lesser from the greater is the bore distance
		from strike point to center of bore hole.
	Hammer tone
		Bright or soft of medium. I like medium and use
		Abel hammers from Brooks Ltd.
	New shanks
		If the shanks are more than twenty years old 
		change them.  Brooks can hang the hammers for
		you if you don't want to do it yourself.
	Traveling and burning
		The shanks need to be traveled and the hammers
		need to be burned so they are perfectly vertical.
		This is THE most time consuming of all regulation
		procedures and must be done well for everything
		else to work well.

Newton
nhunt@jagat.com