Hi Sarah et al, I'm just catching this thread.... You wrote: >Meanwhile, I would still love to know if there's any magic to the shape >of these Stanwood curves (David??) or whether they largely reflect the >natural curves of hammer sets, resulting from the way they are >manufactured (as I suspect). Your suspicion is correct! The SWcurves are the result of LOTS of data measuring ALL kinds of pianos, (the good, bad, AND the ugly). They simply a reflect what's out there in the general piano world. They are most important as a frame of reference and the curve names give us a common language for talking intelligently about hammer weight. When you say "I indeed wanted between a Stanwood #8 and #9", we know JUST what your talking about. I have no problem with making hammer weight specifications that cut across the curve lines! Also: Ray Wrote: >most notably Steinways, have (or had- not sure if they still = >do it) a taper that is not strait. Then Sarah Wrote: >Apparently Steinway strives for linearity in hammer weight for whatever >reasons. Considering that what I have is a D clone, more or less, I >should probably strive to preserve the linearity of the D-styled >hammers. I think you misunderstood Ray... NY Steinway hammers are Rarely linear. They often start out in the 1/2 medium zone and end up in the 1/2 high zone before nose diving in the high treble. Exceptions abound! David Stanwood
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