advice on action/hammers (continued)

[David Love]

Following my first message re putting Steinway hammers on your MH.  There 
are many opinions and tastes in hammers, I still  think the Steinway hammer, 
when prepared properly, gives the broadest tonal palette.  Re action parts.  
The MH's you describe frequently have weight problems and must be analyzed 
thouroughly for proper action parts.  I am partial to Renner parts as I find 
they are consistent in quality especially in the area of bushing cloth and 
leather.  I have not always found the same to be true of some other 
manufacturers.  Nevertheless, because of the possible weight problems I have 
found that it is sometimes necessary to use a shank with a center pin to 
knuckle dimension that is not provided by Renner.  Specifically, sometimes 
an 18mm knuckle works better than the 17mm provided by Renner.  In that 
case, Abel makes a shank of that dimension.  The biggest problem with those 
old MH actions is that often you have to compromise a longer knuckle 
dimension in order to remove excess lead from the keys and reduce inertia, 
in short, make the action feel more responsive.

Good luck.

David Love
San Francisco


>From: Larry E McFatter <mcfatter@csusb.edu>
>Reply-To: pianotech@ptg.org
>To: pianotech@ptg.org
>Subject: advice on action/hammers
>Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2000 14:37:04 -0800
>
>I'm not a technician but a performing pianist who is very interested in
>great piano sound. I'm facing a decision about my own piano for which I
>need the advice of professionals who make these decisions on a regular
>basis. Eighteen months ago I bought from a rebuilder/restorer a Mason &
>Hamlin A made about 1918 that is used as my practice piano at home. At the
>time of purchase everything had been restored/refinished (new pin block,
>pins, shimmed and refinished soundboard, dampers, new strings, case
>refinished, etc.) except the action and hammers which are the original
>ones. The piano had apparently not been played much in its previous life 
>and,
>since the action and hammers were still in acceptable condition, the
>decision was made not to rebuild/replace them yet. I've given the piano a
>workout and listened to it very closely since its purchase. I'm now
>satisfied that the restoration work that has been done to date has been
>good and that the piano has inherently a fine, broad tonal spectrum, but
>the tone is being compromised by the old hammers and action. So I'm asking
>for your advice on which action and hammer combination (i.e. Renner action
>+ Abel hammers, a Japanese action + Renner hammers, etc.) you believe will
>give me the tonal results that I want to achieve and superb control, even
>at very soft dynamics. Because the piano is used in my home I need somewhat
>different tonal characteristics than I might need for a piano in a recital
>hall or playing with an orchestra. I'm very concerned to avoid that
>shallow, over-bright, strident tone that tends to plague the asian pianos
>(especially) after only a few years of regular use. It's been suggested to
>me that I avoid high tension hammers in favor of ones that may initially
>sound a bit mushy but will age more gracefully. True? Here's what I want:
>
>1. a dark, rich tone at soft dynamics (like dark chocolate?);
>2. a warm, round tone at medium dynamics (milk chocolate?);
>3. an edge of bell-like brightness (but not over-bright or strident) at 
>loud
>dynamics (milk chocolate swirled with tart raspberry?).
>
>Any thoughts? (about the piano, I mean; I already have plenty of 
>chocolate).
>
>Larry McFatter
>Music Department
>California State University, San Bernardino
>mcfatter@csusb.edu
>
>

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