To be or not to be: a heavy hammer (OT)

[Isaac OLEG]

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Dear Del,

I appreciate a lot your story with Arthur Rubinstein ! great pianist among
the first in my preferences.

While I like the tone of your Steinways, the fact that the lower regions are
not moving I always can hear, and that gives that immediate tone which have
less levels of contrast than with unlaquered ones (it is not possible to
look deep in the touch to obtain a full tone, as it is with the Hamburg
hammers) To the extreme, that is the Glenngould piano, and that is why I
used that comparison.

Bluthner hammers are lacquered all around too from the start, and, while it
gives a certain smoothness to the tone, that limits the possibilities. IMHO,
the pianist touch will give smoothness,, strongness or deepness depending of
his weight, his technique, his musicality. The piano may not produce a
specially made tone, in fact on a good piano a bad pianist will produce a
bad tone.

But a good pianist will always make music whatever piano he have !

The use of acetone to wash lacquered hammers works much , I have used it
sometime lately. Do you press literally the hammer to wash it ?

But once the hammers have been lacquered, beside the 'crusty' part of tone,
I believe they just can't move enough to be really completely working , so I
will stay away from dope forever now. Old timers here say the same, if the
tone is mushy , waiting for the piano to be played enough will most of the
time bring some tone back in a few months.
And good use of the base needling give impression of power on hammers that
have lost their resilience.

But indeed I've seen that even on a well known workshop, the use of
acetone+plastic solution is usual on old hammers, soaked from the low
regions to 11:00 1:00 , then needled .
One or 2 applications and enough time to dry before, but I don't like the
tone quality obtained, and It does not evolve well in time. Just enough to
sell the piano my guess ! Broken strings appears in the following year under
professional use.

And beside all, many techniques in regulation can help to correct the
hammer's state, temporarily if necessary. That is what I've seen for years
with fast corrections applied to the bedding, the hammer stroke, etc , and
while these regulations where apart from optimum regulation for many
aspects, they always helped to produce a more powerful or a more open tone.

Not that I find that it is the optimum way to go, but while tuning I
actually often change the bedding a bit to correct for weak zones, when
possible (then drop may need some touch up, as the stroke).
I believe I am on that learning curve that pushed to the extreme lend to
these super powerful pianos I often meet after they have been voiced by our
best old timers. A lot of whip effect, more power than necessary, immediate
tone and a lot of mechanical advantage to the pianist, then a little evening
at the crown, and that's it !

Not much to do with heavy hammers in fact, just some ideas .

BTW, I checked the use of a shimmed cardboard's punching at the balance rail
(glued) , ant that even well the touch between sharps and whites (KWR 0.53 &
0.51) , giving more speed at the beginning at the stroke. Sure the process
is worth to look thru (sorry for the English ;>()

Best regards.

Isaac OLEG














  -----Message d'origine-----
  De : Delwin D Fandrich [mailto:pianobuilders@olynet.com]
  Envoyé : jeudi 3 octobre 2002 21:29
  À : oleg-i@wanadoo.fr; Pianotech
  Objet : Re: To be or not to be: a heavy hammer



    ----- Original Message -----
    From: Isaac OLEG
    To: Pianotech
    Sent: October 03, 2002 12:09 AM
    Subject: RE: To be or not to be: a heavy hammer



    To have the Glengould tone we will not need heavy hammers at all, but
Arthur Rubinstein would be sad of a too light one I guess.

  Interesting you should bring up Arthur Rubinstein in this context. I
prepared and tuned the local CD piano for him several times in the early
70s.

  The instrument was relatively new but had been used in New York for
several years by Steinway. When the piano arrived in Portland (Oregon) it
had relatively small hammers that had been so heavily lacquered they more
closely resembled small granite sculptures than anything intended for a
piano. Everybody complained about it, most notably our symphony conductor
(also a pianist). Something had to be done--and fast. I saturated the
hammers with acetone a few times and washed out as much of the lacquer as I
could. This loosened them up considerably and, with a bit of careful
needling and a light sanding they came around rather nicely.

  I was quite new at concert work of any kind the first time Mr Rubinstein
performed in Portland and I was some nervous to be working for an artist
with his reputation and experience. Especially when I heard he had used--or
at least played on--the CD piano we now had. My primary concern was that it
had now changed considerably and he might not like it. I was fully prepared
to fill the hammers up with lacquer once again if he requested a 'brighter'
tone. Turned out he really liked the piano just as it was--he had not cared
for it when he played it in NY--and ended up requesting that the piano
accompany him for the rest of his northwest (U.S.) tour.

  So much for large, heavy hammers on concert pianos. And, for that matter,
heavily lacquered hammers. At least in this case.

  Del


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