Tone weight is a good term and I think there is real validity to this concern. I have had an experience on the other end fo the spectrum. I have a customer with a Hamburg Steinway A (newer one). She wanted the action heavier so a previous technician put clips on the shanks. Though she liked the weight, the tone became very unpleasant to her and others who heard the piano. I suggested we try removing the clips (she had not made the connection), fortunately an easy thing to do. The tone that she had loved about the piano returned. A match of hammer weight to the soundboard assembly (and the relative density of the hammer, perhaps), is clearly important. Heavier hammers do not always sound better, as I have often heard stated here. David Love davidlovepianos@earthlink.net > [Original Message] > From: David C. Stanwood <stanwood@tiac.net> > To: <pianotech@ptg.org> > Date: 5/11/2003 8:21:30 AM > Subject: Re: Wurzen felt > > >David, > > >snip>The other big advantage to using lacquer is that the hammers remains > >light weight. With modern hammers a heavy felt density is used to > >increase the hammer stiffness. This means there is always a weight > >penalty if you want a stiffer hammer. It is an endless circle: as > >technicians demand brighter tone the hammers are made heavier and as > >they become heavier their sound become duller. The dynamic range becomes > >smaller and smaller and this is what makes the piano seem less musical. > > >I think there a limit to how heavy the hammers should be. Practically > >eavery piano I have worked on dating from before WW2 had hammer sets > >that are medium to light in weight. None of them had sets that are as > >heavy as we see today. You would be surprised how many problems, both > >tonally and mechanically, disappear by simply reducing hammer weight. I > >now adjust the weight of each hammer set to work well with each piano. > >With a light to medium weight hammer it doesn't take all that much > >lacquer to improve the stiffness gradient.>Snip> > > >John Hartman RPT > > John you make some very good points about lacquer. Have to comment on a > few points... you say hammers are made heavier because technicians demand > brighter sound but adding weight makes them duller.. Not sure what you > were trying to say there... I find that high zone hammer weights develop a > wider and fuller dynamic range if they are made and voiced appropriately... > There is a recording made at Elon College NC on a Steinway D 1926 that > you put a beautiful beautiful board in... John Foy, the rebuilder, > requested a TopHigh hammer weight when I designed touch weight components. > This piano is VERY popular. Ruth Laredo raved about it etc.... There is a > recording recently made with this piano and the tone is vibrant, and as > varied as a painters palette. I'll get more information on this if anyone > on the list wants to order it and have listen... > > Light hammers rebound off the string more quickly so they are less tolerant > of lacquer or heat pressing... nothing worse than a light hard hammer.. > Ed McMorrow takes soft resilient hammers and lightens them until the tone > blooms but often there is so much weight removed that the tone is very > small. The same bloom may be had with a heavy hammer when the proper > balance of density gradient and resiliency is achieved by manufacturing > process and voicing techniques. The difference with the higher weight > hammer is that more vibration is had out of the soundboard... I see light > hammers as just not exploiting the full vibrational potential of the > board... but they can certainly sound beautiful. > > Richard Brekne mentioned the tone on the Steinway C at the Grieg Institute > in Bergen, with Wurzen felt. The hammer weight level on that instrument > was a 1/2 high. Beautiful tone... good job Richard! > > Hammer weights have evolved upwards for good reasons otherwise the > evolution wouldn't have happened! It's more challenging to work with high > zone hammers. I can testify, based on extensive experience, that it's > worth the effort. If I were to pick the most appropriate weight level for > most situations I would say TopMedium. My personal pic would be 1/2 high. > > Thanks again John and everyone for the good comments... especially about > adjusting the weight of each set to work optimally with the piano.. a new > term some of us are using more and more is "Tone Weight".. what is the best > weight for the tone... hammer weight is the most overlooked aspect of > voicing and it's great that we are hearing more and more discussion about > hammer weight. There is so much to be gained by paying attention to > hammer weight! > > David Stanwood > > P.S. Hammer weight rating charts freely available at: > http://www.stanwoodpiano.com/touchweight.htm > _______________________________________________ > pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
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