Unlacquered S&S hammers: was Re: Tensioned hammers and"the staple"

[David Love]

Ron:

I have put S&S hammers on a variety of pianos because I like that type of
hammer.  I agree that there are often situations where the tenor needs to be
brought down (depending on the piano), but rarely have I encountered a
situation where the hammers don't need some hardening above the 5th octave.
I have experimented with severe filing up there and even then they seem to
need a little help.  Thus, I have given up that kind of filing.  I was just
curious what Del's experience was.

David Love


----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Nossaman" <RNossaman@KSCABLE.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: September 28, 2001 4:25 PM
Subject: Re: Unlacquered S&S hammers: was Re: Tensioned hammers and"the
staple"


> >The original question was whether or not heavy filing off the crown was
> >necessary on a S&S hammer in order to produce tone without lacquer.
> >
> >David Love
>
> And the answer involves another question. Produce tone on what? Del said
> most all hammers were too hard for what he was doing, meaning with his
> soundboard and scaling designs. On another type of soundboard and scaling
> design approach, including Steinway's the S&S hammers will be too soft
> without lacquer. I'm installing soundboards something similar to what Del
> is doing, and I often have to needle these soft hammers down some through
a
> lot of the mid tenor because they're too bright. Sometimes a very light
> application of lacquer is necessary in the last octave, but sometimes not.
> The difference is in the soundboard design, not the hammers. With a
> efficient soundboard and string scale, very little hammer voicing is
necessary.
>
> Ron N