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

[Richard Brekne]

JIMRPT@AOL.COM wrote:

> In a message dated 28/09/01 11:02:19 PM, RNossaman@KSCABLE.com writes:
>
> << When a rebuilder is working with the original board, or a replacement made
> to the original design, he has to try to chose a set of hammers that will
> give the best performance obtainable by whatever voicing methods he has
> available, within the capabilities and limitations the soundboard imposes. >>
>
> Absolutely Ron........... this is something that needs to be repeated
> occasionally and is why one size doesn't fit all. :-)
> Jim Bryant (FL)

Ok... so what tools to we have at our disposal to ascertain what those limits are
? Ron, you raise some interesting points about why different voicers would end up
with completely different approaches given the same hammer set.... I suppose most
of us are looking for basic hardness and dynamic qualities that we can work with,
and dont directly consider the soundboard as such. Of course we all probably
develope some sense of "listening through" an old set of hammers to get an idea
of what the basic sound picture of the piano is.... but beyond that...or perhaps
expanding on this as well... how do you go about selecting a set of hammers for a
particular board..

All this might clear up for example why you report that Able hammers are so
hard.. and some of us over here are scratching our heads about that as well as
being potentially very enlighting as a whole



--
Richard Brekne
RPT, N.P.T.F.
Bergen, Norway
mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no