Yamaha hammers

[antares]

I am actually amazed that I read so many mails about Yamaha hammers 
being so hard.
Could it be that Yamaha's prepared for the US have harder hammers than 
the ones prepared for Europe?
II remember a time when there were stories here (in Europe) about US 
piano's sounding completely different but I have no real knowledge 
about that.
Anyway, I do remember the early Yamaha's here in Holland, and they were 
hard indeed, like granite. That all changed in the seventies and they 
even became totally soft at the introduction of the new C series in 
1995 but that had to do with the fact that the our Japanese colleagues 
started to use pneumatic voicing tools. They simply overdid it.
Today, it seems as if the English made Yamaha's are too hard and the 
Nippon Gakki ones are back to a pleasant normal.
The CFIII-S has Wurzen felt, which makes all the difference in tone 
building from the start.

Friendly greetings,

antares
the Netherlands

www.concertpianoservice.nl
www.grandpiano.nl



btw, we sell Japanese needles that only break if you have no experience 
with voicing.


On donderdag, nov 6, 2003, at 17:28 Europe/Amsterdam, 
cswearingen@daigger.com wrote:

>
>
>
>
>
> Just a few months ago, I applied an alcohol/water solution to my 
> Yamaha U1
> hammers because I had the same problem - couldn't get even a single 
> needle
> to penetrate the hammers - they just kept breaking off.  My U1 is only
> about 5 years old but the hammers were like concrete.
>
> My intention was to soften up the hammers so I could needle them but 
> after
> applying the solution, the bright/harsh tone was drastically brought 
> down
> and so I decided not to needle them.  I would assume that the needles 
> would
> be easier to insert once the hammers have been soaked with this
> alcohol/water solution (and allowed to dry overnight).
>
> Before I did this, I was constantly playing with the soft pedal trying 
> to
> coax a softer/warmer sound from the instrument.  I really love the tone
> change after using the solution.  Be careful however as it will bring a
> drastic change.  You will be able to play softer and get a much warmer 
> tone
> but it will be at the expense of being able to get a ff or triple ff 
> out of
> the instrument.  For me, personally, it was a trade-off that was worth 
> it.
> It's been about 6-8 weeks since I did this and the tone has brightened 
> up a
> bit but it still has a much warmer pleasing tone than before.  I should
> mention that after I soaked the hammers and they dried, I shaped the
> hammers, fine strip-sanded them with 300 grit emory cloth, and finally
> ironed the hammers to a very smooth polish.
>
> There is also someone on this list that recommends steaming the 
> hammers.
> Seems to me that this would have similar effect in that it expands the
> fibers within the hammer.  The only reason I didn't try steaming was 
> that,
> for me, it was much easier to simply use the alcohol/water solution 
> from a
> eye-dropper.
>
> Corte Swearingen
> Chicago
>
>
>
>
>
>                       Erwinspiano@aol.c
>                       om                       To:       
> pianotech@ptg.org
>                       Sent by:                 cc:
>                       pianotech-bounces        Subject:  Re: Yamaha 
> hammers
>                       @ptg.org
>
>
>                       11/06/2003 09:42
>                       AM
>                       Please respond to
>                       Pianotech
>
>
>
>
>
>
> In a message dated 11/6/2003 6:04:04 AM Pacific Standard Time,
> A440A@aol.com writes:
>>   The hammers are so hard that if you begin at the upper shoulder, the
>> tension in them will tear them apart after a while.
>> Regards,
>> Ed Foote RPT
>       Hi Ed
>        And Yamaha builds these hammers this way because...............?
>   For all my debt of professional gratitude due Yamaha & for all there
> ingenius wonderful pianos I can't figure this & have never heard an
> explanation. Soundboard that vibrate freely DO NOT require hammers O 
> stone.
> Still don't get it in Modesto.--Dale
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
>
>