Hi, Interesting experience, but did you voice (first voicing) the hammers used ? I can't understand how you find so similar results. Indeed some part of the tone is similar, particularly if the hammer is new, but when the tone develop, I see differences, some tone being stamped "Wurzen". The lack of live in tone that I have see regularly with some brand of hammers makes me also understanding why the few try of Wurzen and low heat gluing , like on Ronsen, give so enthusiastic comments. Interesting also the fact that Abel seem to provide different quality for the one who ask for. Apparently European techs are not taken as seriously as you , as only one quality is offered on their web site '(while I don't have a recent catalog). I see that you also noticed the problems of these hammers made almost dead by too much pressing and heat, I personally find that the fiber of the felt used is too dead to produce a very singing tone, but I understand that Abel react and try to have this corrected. In some rebuild workshop, Abel heads are sold as "pre shaped" while Renner or other "to be shaped" (with a slightly higher cost because of this work). When I see the level of experience one need to have a good and fast enough shaping technique, I understand better why they had so much success. What I believe is that the felt quality is the first factor for long time success. A fiber may be able to transmit move, stretch and compression to others and that is why we need that density in the first place. A fiber that is not interlocked enough will not transmit as efficiently, that mean some parts of the hammer will not be active, particularly after some years of use, and that is the first reason for tone degradation in my opinion. One of the things I've heard is that the machine automated shaping of the (moon shaped) felt strip that is glued to produce the hammers, is heating and vibrations (?) too much the fiber exactly in the middle of the hammer, killing the natural resiliency in the heart itself of the hammer. That is exactly the impression that gives me those (European) heads when voiced correctly , a lack of foundation in tone, and a dynamic that is not based on some reliable base is somewhat uncomfortable to me. the "elastic part" of the tone is in a too small window , what is perceived as a lack in dynamics (that I notice every time lacquer is employed, even if that does not absolutely makes the tone ugly or bad). Seem to me that the compression of the fiber in a hammer uses every segment of felt, the deformation is absolutely occurring with the action of every little fiber, that is why any action on any zone of a hammer is changing something (even in the treble, while some low needling is not as efficient there indeed), and why any process that restrain the fiber natural speed to take back its place is going to degrade some register, even if it help others. Well thanks for your experiments and feedback, I see you say that you did not address the way the hammer develop and as the final tone of a piano is occurring after some playing have been done (and a "second voicing") I'd say that this is not so conclusive in the end, as you remark judiciously yourself if I read you well. Best Regards. I.OLEG -----Message d'origine----- De : pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org]De la part de David Love Envoye : vendredi 13 aout 2004 09:53 A : Pianotech Objet : Hammers: Reality Check Sucked into the latest Werzenmania and with a beautiful D in the shop, I sampled a few different hammers in different sections of the piano to compare and contrast. The piano has a set of Steinway hammers on it, lacquered with 4:1 in the tenor and bass applied from the side of the hammer (as I usually do) directly under the strike point forming a circle that spans from the tip of the moulding to about 1/8" from the strike point at the high tenor and to about 1/4" from the strike point in the low bass. In the capo section a 3:1 solution was applied from the side in similar fashion but allowed to get all the way to the strike point by about A5 and generously over the top by C8. I put on some Ronsen Werzen samples as well as some Abel Selects that Pianotek sells exclusively. It is a much softer Abel than you typically see, not overpressed or overheated as some are and a very nicely made hammer. All three hammers produced a very nice tone with similar characteristics. In the tenor section (A3 - C4) the sound was warm with some power but not at all distorting--very similar in the balance of overtones produced. The differences were minimal and with a little judicious crown voicing they could be made to be pretty much indistinguishable. Any small differences that I could hear were more likely attributable to differences in weight as I didn't try to even them out. In the first capo section (G5 - B5) the differences were also minimal. Granted, the Steinway took a bit more work to get there, filing, lacquering (not to mention a bit more expense, though the Abel Select set runs about $325.), but in the end, all three hammers produced a very nice and very similar tone. The Abel select was the most dense out of the box in this region, but not by much. With a bit of voicing, the differences were also minimal if even recognizable. Higher up the Ronsen needed some help to achieve the density that both the Abel and lacquered Steinway had. Needling to release tension toward the crown was not effective and so a light juicing was needed. In the end, they again sounded very similar in attack and sustain at all reasonable levels of playing. How the hammers develop is, of course, an issue that was not addressed in my short experiment. Bottom line, there are a number of ways to skin a cat. What I want most is a hammer that is produced consistently from set to set (and from year to year). I don't like surprises with a set of hammers and it's inconsistency that disturbs me the most. The Ronsens are a nice hammer, so were the Abels. If I thought I could get a better tone than the Steinway hammer that I put on there I'd go ahead and change it--I've done it before. But for the life of me, I couldn't find any reason and I'm not bothered by a bit of lacquer in a hammer--sometimes, in fact, it can be used to create a bit of a shine in the upper end that can be desirable. So, choose you weapon, handle it skillfully and you'll likely be satisfied with the result. Of course, having a receptive belly always helps--with beer too. (I didn't have a Renner hammer handy to try, btw, sorry about that!) David Love davidlovepianos@earthlink.net _______________________________________________ pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
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