light hammersopinion

[pianoman]

----------
> From: James McCormac <jmccorm@tfb.com>
> To: pianotech@ptg.org
> Subject: light hammers
> Date: Sunday, August 24, 1997 9:47 PM

Dear List,
Is this what Chickering had in mind in installing 5/32" hammer shanks to
get rid of the 'Woody" sound?

James Grebe
pianoman@inlink.com
> 
> Along the lines of the light hammer thread, I found an article in the 
> current issue of Piano & Keyboard (Sept/Oct 1997) which speaks to this 
> topic in an interesting way -- at least in a way that was new to me.  
> Entitled "A Tip for the Top,"  Robert Cloutier of the U. Oregon at 
> Eugene, suggests a method to take weight off hammers.  He states: "I 
> offer the following advice to anyone with a new steinway (especially a 
> concert instrument), or to anyone with a Seinway which has recently been 
> re-hammered (with genuine parts)."  Rather than remove material from the 
> sides of the moulding of the hammer, he recommends removing material fore

> and aft of the moulding just above where the shank enters the moulding.  
> He continues:"Removing the wood makes the hammer more flexible.  The 
> improvement in the sustaining 'ring' of the treble is substantial."  He 
> posits that Steinways over fifty years old have hammershanks with smaller

> diameters and thus more flexibility.  His procedure is designed to 
> restore this flexibility and he applies it throughout the upper third of 
> the keyboard.
> 	My questions to the list are as follows --
> Has anyone else tried this procedure, and with what success?
> If the older Steinways have a singing treble because of smaller shanks, 
> why not remove material from the shanks as is suggested by not a few 
> experienced technicians, and thus achieve the desired flexibility?
> It seems to me that removing material fore and aft just above the shank 
> hole is asking for a failure of the moulding.  This  might occur when it 
> is time to reshape the hammer either with a sanding paddle or sandpaper 
> strips.  A fair amount of force is directed fore and aft on the hammer 
> when sanding. Finally, does Cloutier's method achieve the desired results

> with less effort?  I suppose that a rattail file on the moulding is 
> easier than using a router to reduce the mass of a hammershank -- no jig,

> no chance of messing up a shank, etc.  
> 	I would appreciate the counsel of more experienced techs.
> Jim McCormac
> Associate
> Fallbrook, CA
>